If I have stepped on some people at times because I am at the top, it couldn't be helped. What should I do if someone gets hurt ... retire?

My poor sight gives me an advantage. I can't see the people in the audience who are scratching their heads while I am lost in my role and giving everything I have to the drama.

You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.

Good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends.

An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I've left the opera house.

I prepare myself for rehearsals like I would for marriage.