. . . My view of women is about the same as yours, but I honor in them the husbands to whom they belong if they are my friends. Besides, my wife is as harmless as anyone could be, nor is she more stupid than another, although she has never learned stilted phrases about art, and in her modesty is not inclined to loud protestations of delight in a work of art which pleases her.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 163