I would just like to say that opera is no longer about fat people in breastplates shattering wine glasses.

I performed in Sydney some years ago for the Sydney Festival and I am just so pleased to be returning to the wonderful Sydney Opera House and also performing in Melbourne for the first time.

That was when I realised that music is the most profound, magical form of communication there is.

I do hope that our spring will be starting shortly and we will all be able to enjoy some sunshine again.

Opera is credible drama now, and it costs less than going to a football match. What have you got to lose?

The musical heritage of Yorkshire is deep and wide.

To tell you the truth, I never listen to opera at home.

I'm engaging my diaphragm as I'm speaking to you right now.

There are a lot of unseen elements to having a successful singing career.

It worries me that young singers think you can shortcut the training and go straight to fame and fortune, and programmes like Pop Idol have encouraged that.

I do a lot of vocal hygiene.

We have to live within the framework of our limitations and the mistakes we make. Argue with Destiny, but never try to wrestle it into submission. If you do, you’ll end up losing.

The people have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them.

A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.

There were dreams once upon a time, dreams now all but forgotten. On sad days I dust them off and fondle them nostalgically, with a patronizing wonder at the naivete of the youth who dreamed them.

Age doesn't make a difference either. Whether you're 20 or 70, you can still play together. There are so many different things you can do with golf that you can't do in other sports.

You have to be a little patient if you're an artist. People don't always get you the first time.

There is always one fact more in every man's case about which we know nothing.

Prison Break really changed me to somebody that can put butts in seats.

In the finished article, the only thing that is important is whether it moves you or not. There is nothing else that is important at all.