Opera Quotes

Wagner used to read the libretti of his operas to his friends; I am glad I was not there.

Be careful how you choose your enemy, for you will come to resemble him. The moment you adapt your enemy's methods your enemy has won. The rest is suffering and historical opera.

It's like telling Mozart that there are too many notes in an opera. Which one do you want us to take out?

You must know that I am made of death, from head to foot, and it is a corpse who loves you and adores you and will never, never leave you!

Mozart has written opera, symphony, sacred and chamber music - not to mention his piano and violin concerti.

I've never had any feeling of disconnection between the classical theater, or the contemporary theater, or musical theater, or the thing that we call opera.

We would never get away from it. ... It's bad enough as it is, but with the wireless telephone one could be called up at the opera, in church, in our beds. Where could one be free from interruption?

Dare to be honest and fear no labor. ... Opera is where a man gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings.

Old Americana vintage gangster stuff has a fantastical feel; it feels less dirty in a way. It feels like the opera of crime.

Like an opera singer, I am able to sing out my song in paint.

In opera, as with any performing art, to be in great demand and to command high fees you must be good of course, but you must also be famous. The two are different things.

The Germans are a cruel race. Their operas last for six hours and they have no word for fluffy.

For the shallow delights of matrimony and opera I have no courage.

Why, in the Peking Opera, are women's roles played by men?...Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act.

I wish the opera was every night. It is, of all entertainments, the sweetest and most delightful. Some of the songs seemed to melt my very soul.

If you're a young artist, wondering what to call yourself, consider 'multimedia artist.' It's so vague. Then, no one can say, 'Hey, how come you're a jazz person, and you're making a pop opera?

Opera is a musical scenery, a musical atmosphere in which the characters move and talk.

If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons and take his gun away.

The audience is requested not to refrain from talking during the overture. Otherwise they will know all the tunes before the opera begins.

Premiering a new opera is probably one of the hardest things in the world to do, and opening nights of any opera are always pretty stressful.

Opera is a beautiful and important diversion for me.

Opera is one of the most important art forms. It should be listened to and appreciated by everyone.

You couldn't tell if she was dressed for an opera or an operation.

My profession is to be always on the alert to find God in nature, to know his lurking-places, to attend all the oratorios, the operas in nature.

I don't mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is the language I don't understand.

People are wrong when they say opera is not what it used to be. It is what it used to be. That is what's wrong with it.

One of the most wonderful memories in my life was when I sang at the Opera House in Sydney. I will never forget that. It is one of the most beautiful Houses I have ever sung in my life.

I'm not very well organized unless I'm plugged into a structure like the opera or a movie. When I'm doing that, I have to be organized.

Politics in a democratic society should not be treated like a baseball game, a game show or a soap opera. The times are too serious for that.

The opera isn't over until the fat lady sings.

I did radio, I did television, I did opera, I did films in which I had very, very little to say. But I had a lot of experience in front of the camera, and that's what really counts.

I don't limit my taste. There's some jazz that I like and there's some opera. I've been listening to what was essentially country music, but it crossed over to rock.

I want to get out of the major opera houses.

Opera? Just what the world needs: more fat women screaming.

My grandmother was this unbelievably smart, phenomenally cool woman and [soap operas] were just always on in her house. I just realized that I live in a soap opera, and it's awesome.

You could probably prove, by judicious use of logarithms and congruent triangles, that real life is a lot more like soap opera than most people will admit.

I was the first movie star to plunge into night-time soap opera.

I've been trying to find a redeeming feature to Palpatine, and the only one I've got so far is that he's clearly a patron of the arts because he goes to the opera.

Music - opera particularly - is a process which is endurable or successful only if it is achieved by people who love to collaborate.

It's in my genes. My mother was an opera singer. I'm clearly dramatic.

It is not always a matter of wild ovations and legendary performances. Sometimes you are just happy to get through an opera without trouble.

Do you think Duke Ellington didn't listen to Debussy? Louis Armstrong loved opera, did you know that? Name me a jazz pianist who wasn't influenced by European music!

Marriage, like spinach and opera, was something I had never thought I would like.

The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.

It's all one to me: opera, painting, drawing, faxes.

I enjoy listening to opera at home, occasionally, but I would much rather see it than just listen to it.

Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian.

Opera is an extremely disciplined art form, and every excess a singer indulges in has a direct effect on the voice.

When I first started acting, I started in opera and had a great desire to play grand, tragic characters. I got sidetracked in musical theater and ended up doing a lot of comedy.

When an opera star sings her head off? she usually improves her appearance.