Acquiring a repertoire in these days, when the vocal literature is so immense, so overwhelming, that the student with sense will devote all his energies to work and not imagine himself a martyr to art.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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