And woven into the fabric of this harsh existence was music.

I performed in Sydney some years ago for the Sydney Festival and I am just so pleased to be returning to the wonderful Sydney Opera House and also performing in Melbourne for the first time.

I would just like to say that opera is no longer about fat people in breastplates shattering wine glasses.

That was when I realised that music is the most profound, magical form of communication there is.

I do hope that our spring will be starting shortly and we will all be able to enjoy some sunshine again.

Opera is credible drama now, and it costs less than going to a football match. What have you got to lose?

The musical heritage of Yorkshire is deep and wide.

To tell you the truth, I never listen to opera at home.

I'm engaging my diaphragm as I'm speaking to you right now.

There are a lot of unseen elements to having a successful singing career.

It worries me that young singers think you can shortcut the training and go straight to fame and fortune, and programmes like Pop Idol have encouraged that.

It must be tempered with discipline. Ferocity is useless unless employed in the proper place . . .

Real dialogue is where two or more people become willing to suspend their certainty in each other's presence.

Peace comes from within; do not try to seek it without.

To be a good kisser start slow, definitely ramp into it and remember somebody's on the other side of your mouth!

God has given the salt lick to the deer; and He has given to man, red-skin and white, the delicious spring at which to slake his thirst.

I judge the people and the nations by their ideals; the higher the ideals, the better the person, the greater the nation.

The constant refrain that bringing our troops home would demonstrate a lack of support for them must be one of the most amazing distortions ever foisted on the American public.

It wasn't that he was specially ungenerous but that he put things off to give his generosity a longer and more significant route.

I have visited Tromsø and can personally say Tromsø is a beautiful city, well equipped to be an excellent choice for the Chess Olympiad 2014.

We must nurture and love, if life is to have any real meaning. But First we must find a way to survive against the things that prevent us from doing so.