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.

Attachment to spiritual things is... just as much an attachment as inordinate love of anything else.

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

There were times in my career ... when I felt like a trapeze artist doing dangerous somersaults without a net underneath. When you execute those somersaults flawlessly, the audience feels the same sense of triumph the performer does.

I don't share blame. I don't share credit. And I don't share desserts.

I can't be happy every day but I can be cheerful.