My children are my children. There's no doubt about that at all. They're very strong towards me, very protective, and I towards them. It works both ways.

I knew that I could be more creative onstage, to state my own case and deliver my own interpretation of the role much more aggressively than in the recording studio.

Opera is for a lifetime, not just a minute.

When I perform Strauss, it is as if the music fits me like a glove. My voice seems to lie in a happy area in this music, which is lyrical and passionate at the same time.

I'm completely in charge of my own life now. Sometimes there's no one there to slap me on the hand and say: 'Stop being so bullish and bossy,' and things like that.

I felt that the studio recording process makes you stand still too long.

My energy is undiminished. Someone said to me the other day, 'Are you retired?' and I said, 'Well, I'm just trying to prove that I'm not.' There's so many things to do.

The word 'no' is a very good word in a singer's repertoire.

I never had the influence of any other singer in my music, so I sounded like myself all the time.

That's been my sort of aim in life, to never miss an opportunity.

I'm more confident now than I've ever been. As you get older, you have to be.

Live boldly. Push yourself. Don't settle.

You don´t need a stage to prove that you´re a bad speaker.

Your brain is the organ of your personality, character, andintelligence and is heavily involved in making you who you are.

I write almost entlirely on Macs, because: Windows gives me hives.

I planned how I would kill myself in the time of Churchill (stand under bombs), Victoria (throw myself under a horse), and Henry the Eighth (marry Henry the Eighth)- Little Bee

You reincarnate forever because you exist forever. You can't die. You can't be born, your essence that is. You are on a big wheel.

Successful generals make plans to fit circumstances, but do not try to create circumstances to fit plans.

What drives people to public service is a sense of possibility. If you haven't sensed that possibility you don't get started in the same way, you don't feel you can have an impact.

Read about a few men who wear (or wore) bow ties as an act of defiance, and check out a tie that makes a strong statement. Bow ties are cool.

And I hope I'm forgiven for Thug Livin when I die.