Why let one high C ruin your whole evening?

It seemed no longer important whether everyone loved me or not, more important now was for me to love them

My voice had a long, nonstop career. It deserves to be put to bed with quiet and dignity, not yanked out every once in a while to see if it can still do what it used to do. It can't.

A happy woman is one who has no cares at all; a cheerful woman is one who has cares but doesn't let them get her down.

A primary function of art and thought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit him to stand beyond it in an autonomy of perception and judgment.

Opera is music AND drama. I'm prepared to sacrifice the beautiful note for the meaningful sound any time... I can make a pretty tone as well as anyone, but there are times when the drama of a scene demands the opposite of a pretty sound.

I really do believe I can accomplish a great deal with a big grin, I know some people find that disconcerting, but that doesn't matter.