Some say the word 'pop' is a derogatory word to say 'not important' - I do not accept that. If the word 'classic' is the word to say 'boring,' I do not accept. There is good and bad music.

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.

By its nature a relationship was not an accomplishment. It was just a connection that happened to exist, for as long as it did exist.

How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.

What's so amazing about this historical moment is that it is bringing class to the fore and we have to think about the nature of work and hierarchy.

We've had a chance to be seen by viewers who had never seen us before, and we've kept a lot of them.

All union is effected by love, and love is not love without trust.

Nothing prevents one from appearing natural as the desire to appear natural.

Life is the jailer, death the angel sent to draw the unwilling bolts and set us free.

Blackmail is more effective than bribery.

Get the big truth first. If you get the big truth, the small truths will accumulate around it.

I never assign blame in a crisis. There is no benefit to doing so.