Learning music by reading about it is like making love by mail.

There is no prodigy in our profession. If you see all the great singer of the past, none of them are.

People have a right to criticize.

In opera, as with any performing art, to be in great demand and to command high fees you must be good of course, but you must also be famous. The two are different things.

All I'm after is a few square metres to be myself. A space where I can continue to profess my creed: take the ball, give it to a team-mate, my team-mate scores. It's called an assist, and it's my way of spreading happiness.

It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It's also a very clear path to happiness.

The goal of a life free of dysphoria is a snare and a delusion. A better goal is of good commerce with the world. Authentic happiness, astonishingly, can occur even in the presence of authentic sadness.

If you have easy self-contentment, you might have a very, very cheap source of happiness.