Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Be black, shine, aim high.
Who I am is the best I can be.
Accomplishments have no color.
My mother was my best friend and confidante.
I am old, I am fat, but I am still Tetrazzini.
There are names I do not want mentioned in my home.
I had hoped you would protest, but please don't argue.
Many composers today don't know what the human throat is.
I think I'm making a difference for a lot of young singers.
A healthy sex life. Best thing in the world for a woman's voice.
I am here and you will know that I am the best and will hear me.
Inside I have been a stabber, a screamer, a die-er from way back.
I don't use my lips. I use my tongue to make - create the vowels.
Stay up and really burn the midnight oil. There are no compromises.
I prefer to leave standing up, like a well-mannered guest at a party.
My real achievement is my daughter and my three beautiful grandchildren.
I feel pretty and witty and gay. And I pity any girl who isn't me today.
Ninety percent of what's wrong with singers today is that they don't breathe right.
If you're not feeling good about you, what you're wearing outside doesn't mean a thing.
You have always given me more than I gave to you. You were the wings on which I soared.
I have always felt a connection between daily life and art...my reality has been my key.
The music is the shining path over which the poet travels to bring his song to the world.
The best advice I can give a young aspiring singer is not to become an old aspiring singer.
Singers are experts at keeping things from dripping on their throats. Believe me, they're experts.
The ultimate of being successful is the luxury of giving yourself the time to do what you want to do.
If I do have some success, I'd like to enjoy it, for heaven's sake! What is the point of having it otherwise?
You should always know when you're shifting gears in life. You should leave your era; it should never leave you.
You should always know when you're shifting gears in life. You should leave your era - it should never leave you.
I have never given all of myself, even vocally, to anyone. I was taught to sing on your interest, not your capital.
I will sing in San Francisco if I have to sing in the streets, for I know that the streets of San Francisco are free.
Americans can pretty much sing anything, whereas foreign singers are often limited in style, language, even composer.
You have to know exactly what you want out of your career. If you want to be a star, you don't bother with other things.
I had always loved beautiful and artistic things, though before leaving America I had had very little chance of seeing any.
Having the presence of mind to react to any situation onstage is what makes the best performers keep their spontaneity intact.
All young lovers, whoever you are, I hope your troubles are few. All my good wishes go with you tonight. I've been in love like you.
[To the audience at her farewell concert:] You have always given me more than I gave to you ... You were the wings on which I soared.
At Bloomington, Indiana, I was invited to listen to music written in quarter tones for four harps and voices. I had to go out to be sick.
Young singers ask me, "Do I have to live in New York?" I say, "You can live wherever you want-as long as people think you live in New York."
But to me the actual sound of the words is all important; I feel always that the words complete the music and must never be swallowed up in it.
For a long time the only time I felt beautiful-in the sense of being complete as a woman, as a human being, and even female-was when I was singing.
You should never be too much involved... otherwise, you suffer and you can't sing. This is what happened in the very first years I sang Madame Butterfly.
Art is the only thing you cannot punch a button for. You must do it the old-fashioned way. Stay up and really burn the midnight oil. There are no compromises.
I pray to be the best thing ever but I also pray that for my colleagues. You're only as good as the person who can distract from what's meant to be happening.
How could I have been a wife, a mother and a singer? Who takes care of the piccolini when you go around the world? Your children would not call you Mama, but Renata.
When people come up to me and say 'oh, your singing made me cry', it's nice to realise that you're making other people happy, but I don't know how I do it. I just sing.
How could I have been a wife, a mother and a singer? Who takes care of the piccolini when you go around the world? Your children would not call you 'Mama,' but 'Renata.'
The real exertion in the case of an opera singer lies not so much in her singing as in her acting of a role, for nearly every modern opera makes great dramatic and physical demands.
I am here and you will know that I am the best and will hear me. The color of my skin or the kink of my hair or the spread of my mouth has nothing to do with what you are listening to.
Whenever you think that you are getting too big for the people around you, remember all that separates you from the guy sitting next to you is a little piece of gristle in your throat.
The most important person is the audience and the composer. The rest of us - and even the composer is a servant to the audience. And of course, the audience is a servant to the higher art.