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

In the piano, one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the voice, the instrument has to be developed by study.

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.

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

One does not study for a goal. The goal is a mere accident.

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”

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.