Does it not occur to people that I might be artificial by nature?

— Maurice Ravel

I did my work slowly, drop by drop. I tore it out of me by pieces.

— Maurice Ravel

Music, I feel, must be emotional first and intellectual second.

— Maurice Ravel

My intention here is to make it clear that not a single cell of my composition, here in regard to The Raven, is found by chance or intuition, that the composition moved towards perfection with the precision and inevitability of a mathematical equation.

— Maurice Ravel

The only love affair I have ever had was with music.

— Maurice Ravel

We should always remember that sensitiveness and emotion constitute the real content of a work of art.

— Maurice Ravel