Richard Wagner

Friedrich Nietzsche

is hard to listen to without getting the urge to conquer Poland.

I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.

is a composer whose music drives the nail into your head with swinging hammer blows.

Wagner drives the nail into your head with swinging hammer blows.

is a man who, had he been a little more human, he would have been truly divine.

Had Wagner been a little more human, he would have been truly divine.

is not a human being at all; he is a disease.

Is Wagner a human being at all? Is he not rather a disease?

is a composer whose music has some wonderful moments, but a lot of miserable half hours.

Wagner has some wonderful moments but awful quarter-hours.

is a composer whose operas cannot be judged after a first hearing, but hardly merit sitting through a second time.

One cannot judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing and I have no intention of sitting through it a second time.

is a composer with beautiful moments but awful half hours.