The real artist has no idea that he is sacrificing himself for art. He does “what he does for one reason and one reason only-he can't help doing it”

Vocal study before age 20 is likely to be injurious, though some survive it in the hands of very careful and understanding teachers.

If the student could give up her work on my advice, she had better give it up without it. One does not study for a goal. The goal is a mere accident.

We are rich in the quantity of songs rather than in the quality. The singer has to go through hundreds of compositions before he finds one that really says something.

The student who deceives himself into thinking that he is giving his life like an ascetic in the spirit of sacrifice for art, is the victim of a deplorable species of egotism.

A student will send me an urgent appeal to hear her, saying she is poor and wants my advice as to whether it is worth while to continue her studies. I invariably refuse such requests.

Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.