Tanglewood [summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra] was a place where gods strode the earth.

The secret of living is to find people who will pay you money to do what YOU would pay to do if you had the money.

If you approach an opera as though it were something that always went a certain way, that's what you get. I approach an opera as though I didn't know it.

Opera is everything rolled into one - music, theater, the dance, color and voices and theatrical illusions.

Raving mad is quite easy. You just chew up the scenery or something. It's quiet mad that's hard.

Once in a while, when everything is just right, there is a moment of magic. People can live on moments of magic.

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.