The first rule in opera is the first rule in life: see to everything yourself

Music is not written in red, white and blue. It is written in the heart's blood of the composer.

If I'd been a housemaid I'd have been the best in Australia - I couldn't help it. It's got to be perfection for me.

If you wish to understand me at all (and to write an autobiography is only to open a window into one's heart) you must understand first and foremost, that I am an Australian.

There are two things I like stiff and one of them's jelly.

What are we singers but the silver-voiced messengers of the poet and the musician?

You won’t be famous until people start saying the worst things they can about you. Don’t worry! It’s a good sign!

One of the drawbacks of Fame is that one can never escape from it.

Always sing below your potential.

If I'd been a housemaid I'd have been the best in Australia-I couldn't help it. It's got to be perfection for me.

... even one centimetre can make an awful lot of difference when you don't have many to spare.

Many men but one Master.

You must resist negative thoughts, negative criticism and negative influences.

Henry wondered not for the first time if her blood ran red or black.

[Talking pictures are] like putting lip rouge on the Venus de Milo.

No, Father, I've a very different idea of love. And until my dying day I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture.

The capacity of Iraq's security forces has improved, and Iraq's leaders have made strides toward political accommodation

The Obama presidency, and liberalism in general, are based on not trusting the American people - a belief that big government is better for people.

'Upstairs Downstairs' and 'Downton Abbey' appeal to people because they're about our history, they look so beautiful, are written by amazing writers and have high production values.

A man's desire is for the woman, but the woman's desire is rarely other than for the desire of the man.