The music of the most popular operas is so highly esteemed, it can stand endless revivals.

Everyone has seen photographs of Mexicans wearing those big sombreros. When you come to Mexico, the astonishing thing is, nobody wears these hats at all.

When I was 24 I went to Nigeria and it was such a culture shock, growing up in Australia and suddenly being the only white man in this unit full of black men.

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

In Australia, they set up a special fund to kick films off. It was quite an enlightened sort of move. You could go to this government bureau with scripts and and get finance for films.

There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.

With a film, I do my best to understand the author's intentions and try to bring the characters to life.

Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.

It's not enough to hit the notes. There is no point in the singers just standing there and sounding wonderful if they're not connecting with the characters they are portraying.

On stage, the audience watches from a fixed viewpoint and the director cannot retake something he doesn't like. It has to work straight through.

Directing an opera is similar to directing a play. The singing must not get in the way of the drama.

The reader leaves his mark on the book, as the book leaves its mark on the reader.

I love the way you make me feel like I'm a completed person. I love the way I want to take care of you. When I'm with you I feel that I've come home - home in a way everyone imagines home should be.

I never imagined being undead would be so much work, ” Jeff lamented.“Being a ‘vampire’ takes no work at all, ” Timothy emphasized vampire. “It’s surviving that takes all the work.

The monsoons were the real thing

Earnest is our dog. She senses instantly that something is wrong, and guided by that timeless and unerring nurturing instinct that all female dogs have, she tries to lick my ears off.

There is probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man - with human flesh.

At first it upset me to realize how many people are, at heart, selfish. Now I take that in stride, but people's loneliness still gets to me.

Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt, but it is the only way to live life completely.

Don't look at the world with your hands in your pockets. To write about it you have to reach out and touch it.

Luck is not as random as you think. Before that lottery ticket won the jackpot, someone had to buy it.