To be able to become a peasant is still my only wish. Spring brings me Nature again, that is my only comfort! It is bad that I always seem to myself to be guilty of affectation when I bear myself bravely and hopefully. One thing I can say with pride: however far I search, I believe no artist yet has suffered for his art's sake as I have, because I possess the eccentricity of being unable to conceive of art apart from mankind. Let us leave that. I am glad to be engaged now on the business of getting my latest manuscript, Opera and Drama, into the right hands, that is to say, the bookseller's.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 198