Alexander Borodin quotes:

Respectable people do not write music or make love as a career.

I am a composer in search of oblivion; and I'm always slightly ashamed to admit that I compose.

Music is a pastime, a relaxation from more serious occupations.

As a composer seeking to remain anonymous I am shy of confessing my musical activity. This is intelligible enough. For others it is their chief business, the occupation and aim of life. For me it is a relaxation, a pastime which distracts me from my principal business, my professorship. I love my profession and my science. I love the Academy and my pupils, male and female, because to direct the work of young people, one must be close to them.