"In his old age Brahms announced to his friends that he was going to stop composing music and enjoy the time left to him.  Several months went by without Brahm's writing a note.  But there came the day when a new Brahms composition made its debut.  "I thought you weren't going to write any more," a friend reminded him.  "I wasn't," said the composer, "but after a few days away from it, I was so happy at the thought of no more writing that the music came to me without effort."

~ THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES, Clifton Fadiman, 1985.