One does not study for a goal. The goal is a mere accident.

Inspired by the purse rather than the soul, the mercenary side fairly screams in many of the works put out by every day American publishers.

The real artist has no idea that he is sacrificing himself for art. He does “what he does for one reason and one reason only-he can't help doing it”

Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.

French is, in many ways, more difficult for an English-speaking person to sing. It is so full of complex and trying vowels. It requires the utmost subtlety.

When the student has her voice under complete control, it is safe to take up the lyric repertoire of Mendelssohn, Old English Songs, etc. How simple and charming they are!

The sincerity of the art worker must permeate the song as naturally as the green leaves break through the dead branches in springtime.

Vocal study before age 20 is likely to be injurious, though some survive it in the hands of very careful and understanding teachers.

A student will send me an urgent appeal to hear her, saying she is poor and wants my advice as to whether it is worth while to continue her studies. I invariably refuse such requests.

The student who deceives himself into thinking that he is giving his life like an ascetic in the spirit of sacrifice for art, is the victim of a deplorable species of egotism.

We are rich in the quantity of songs rather than in the quality. The singer has to go through hundreds of compositions before he finds one that really says something.

The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.

Although I’ve been thoroughly conditioned by pain to see it otherwise, an ending is nothing more than the backside of a beginning.

A child who is born is something to seek out, something to search for, a star, a northern light, a column of energy in the universe. And a child who dies-that's an abomination.

It was tough being a single mom. It was tough being in a divorce with children. Very, very hard.

As they say in the rodeo business, he just drew a tough one. There were a lot of positives for Jason to take out of this. He put us in a position to win.

My whole purpose really is to try to help working families to find better jobs and get better benefits and look out for the little guy.

I like to think both - it's not either/or. It's and.

I don't want to give up acting - it's what I am.

As soon as somebody comes out for a politician, especially in Hollywood, when they all go, 'I'm voting for this guy!' – I go, 'That's not who I'm voting for!'

I have always made impresarios a lot of money across my career and have never, so far as I am aware, given any of them heart attacks.