[...] Every time a letter comes from you it is a feast-day and all my friends are invited. [...]
Whenever I get news of you the desire springs up in me to begin some considerable artistic work again. I no longer have any great impulse to literary work. In the main I preach but to deaf ears. It is only the man with enough artistic experience to find the right thing for himself who understands what I am at. So it is better for everyone to arrive by experience, and for everyone to do what he can for himself. I still feel enthusiasm for the work of art itself. The music of my Siegfried already haunts my every member. All I need, then, is the right vein, and that you will create for me, you dear friend! [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 1, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 183