Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.

In poetry there are two giants, rough Homer and fine Shakespere. In music likewise we have two giants, Beethoven, the thinker, and the superthinker Berlioz.

Thanks to nanny, I've got a deep understanding of Russian tales.

I regard the people as a great being, inspired by a single idea. This is my problem. I strove to solve it in this opera.

If we push on, we begin to feel a vague, tingling sense of who, or what, we really are. It's a powerful feeling, strong enough to have us coming back for more, again and again.

A good teacher is someone who can help you to get back to a teacher within.

In print, people can do anything to you. Everything you do is picked apart. People love it; they're waiting for you to make a mistake.

I play Hopkins' daughter. Brad Pitt plays Death. He's a very-good looking Death. With him, dying isn't so bad.

Sleep always eluded the pursuer.

Put the 'off' button on.

I have an authority problem.

Medical care for the entire country seems to me a basic right. If every other country in the West can do it, why can't we?

I think of what the experience is of going into the building, of spending time in it, and try to get a sense of what the building would be like to work in as well.

Take what you can do and use it for the highest good to benefit others.