My arias make me take off as if I were on a trampoline.

There's no anger ever in a spiritual. There's always the dream of a hope of a better day coming. That God understands the troubles that I'm experiencing.

I have a particular affliction. I am unable to say a word I can't spell.

Swan, by Mary Oliver. Poems and prose. Reading from this book is as if visiting a very wise friend. There is wisdom and welcoming kindness on every page.

It is still more likely that a woman's power would be seen as aggression, and a man's power would be seen as assertion.

One needs more than ambition and talent to make a success of anything, really. There must be love and a vocation.

I have enjoyed most particularly reading the correspondence between Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. The genuine friendship, competitiveness and support that thread through their communications are life lessons for us all.