“Every singer eventually gets around to a Christmas disc.”

“Everybody's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. I mean, I've never arrived... I'm still learning all the time.”

“Learning operatic roles is ongoing, and I find that I can learn on the train or subway, during a manicure, getting my hair done, and even while driving if I only look at the score at red lights.”

“I've always been inspired by artists who have shown musical and intellectual curiosity and the courage to take risks.”

“For years, I had no time for exploratory travel.”

“Having to travel so much plays havoc with your personal life.”

“My mind is a lock pick always looking for another door to open. I often find those doors by exploring minds of others...”

“It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.”

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in infomation?”

“To withhold words is power. But to share our words with others, openly and honestly, is also power.”

“You have to follow your own voice. You have to be yourself when you write. In effect, you have to announce, 'This is me, this is what I stand for, this is what you get when you read me. I'm doing t...”

“...if you want your own distinctive voice, you first have to become someone...”

“I shiver, thinking how easy it is to be totally wrong about people-to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it's the effect or vice versa”

“At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear.”

“I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.”