(Baden, July 18, 1825, to his nephew, who had decided to become a
merchant.)

158. "It is very true that a drop will hollow a stone; a thousand
lovely impressions are obliterated when children are placed in
wooden institutions while they might receive from their parents
the most soulful impressions which would continue to exert their
influence till the latest age."

(Diary, spring of 1817. Beethoven was dissatisfied with
Giannatasio's school in which he had placed his nephew. "Karl is
a different child after he has been with me a few hours" (Diary).
In 1826, after the attempt at suicide, Beethoven said to
Breuning: "My Karl was in an institute; educational institutions
furnish forth only hot house plants.")

159. "Drops of water wear away a stone in time, not by force but
by continual falling. Only through tireless industry are the
sciences achieved so that one can truthfully say: no day without
its line,--nulla dies sine linea."

(1799, in a sketch for a theoretical handbook for Archduke
Rudolph.)



ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER