It is so important for people at a young age to be invited to embrace classical music and opera.

People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference.

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.

I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent, and this is what I have devoted my life to.

The rivalry is with ourself. I try to be better than is possible. I fight against myself, not against the other.

If children are not introduced to music at an early age, I believe something fundamental is actually being taken from them.

Music making is the most joyful activity possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.

Some singers want the audience to love them. I love the audience.

Learning music by reading about it is like making love by mail.

You don't need any brains to listen to music.

As an art form, opera is a rare and remarkable creation. For me, it expresses aspects of the human drama that cannot be expressed in any other way, or certainly not as beautifully.

There are times I wish I were invisible. Which is silly, since I do everything I can to stand out.

Mysticism is in fact the only criticism people cannot level against my theory.

Areas with lots of college students/young people can be a minefield, so I tend to avoid them.

Why are we here? We exist not to pursue happiness, which is fleeting, or outer accomplishment, which can always be bettered. We are here to nourish the self.

I have more eating memories than cooking memories and many memories of being in the kitchen - I was always attracted to the kitchen - but nobody ever wanted me to touch anything.

Little by little, the pimps have taken over the world. They don't do anything, they don't make anything - they just stand there and take their cut.

Do I have to be here to belong to you?' Froi asked. 'Can't I belong to you wherever I am?

Things happen in everyday life that make you consider living your life just every other day.

It is not peace that I seek, but life.

...counselling man to treat her as a slave while persuading her that she is a queen.