The music of this opera (Madame Butterfly) was dictated to me by God. I was merely instrumental in getting it on paper and communicating it to the public.

Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of all man's faculties, and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements.

Art is a kind of illness.

I lived for art, I lived for love

The work comes into the world at an undetermined hour, from a still unknown, but it comes inevitably.

See, the night doth enfold us! See, all the world lies sleeping!

I'm working, but there is so much still to be done! And it frightens me to think of my weight of years. But on we go, without fear or hesitation!

Cold calculation, random spots of color, mathematically exact construction (clearly shown or concealed), drawing that is now silent and now strident . . . . Is this not form?

My love is such that Rivers cannot quench, Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence. Thy love is such I can no way repay, The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.

Lots of medications work for a month, or a year, and then stop working.

A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.

There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the inscrutable tides of God.

The mind, if slackened even a little, will cause defeat, the same as fearing the opponent will make you unable to use full strength.

I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.

I took my brains out and stretched them on the rack, now I'm not too sure I'm gonna get them back.

Two things I do value a lot, intimacy and the capacity for joy, didn't seem to be on anyone else s list. I felt like the stranger in a strange land, and decided I'd better not marry the natives.

The richest people in the world build networks; everyone else is trained to look for work.

Becoming a mother has taught me to simply things and also to appreciate being at home more.