“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.”

“That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means great teachers foresee a pupil's ends. ”

“When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point.”

“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 ho...”

“When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping.”

“Some say I have a beautiful voice, some say I have not. It is a matter of opinion. All I can say, those who don't like it shouldn't come to hear me.”

“I was ashamed of myself for being ashamed of myself. I didn't like feeling like that.”

“I felt like a failure, like somehow my self-worth was tied to my ability to procreate. I didn't feel like I could talk about it. I did not want other people's pity, so I mostly kept my story and my...”

“My failures may be my greatest successes. It is in failure that I have often drawn closer to God, learn to depend more on Him than myself, gained self-knowledge, and seen things in their right pers...”

“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”

“Astronauts are very professional and when they're preparing for launch, they prepare for it as the most serious endeavor of our lives.”

“One of the most difficult speeches to prepare is an address to a graduation class, which is why I don't often do them.”

“You like me not because I like you. I like you just because I like me.”

“Maybe the truth is I really want to like you instead.”

“If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am.”