In poetry there are two giants, rough Homer and fine Shakespere. In music likewise we have two giants, Beethoven, the thinker, and the superthinker Berlioz.

Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.

Thanks to nanny, I've got a deep understanding of Russian tales.

I regard the people as a great being, inspired by a single idea. This is my problem. I strove to solve it in this opera.

I felt peace, even though I was still scared to death. I thought that, whatever would happen to me - I could still be killed. I didn't know - and in what I'd already been through, God was in control.

If natural selection can create creationists it can manage a caterpillar with a face on its arse.

'Strictly' is a bit like scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final or sinking the final putt in the Ryder Cup - only a few people get the opportunity to do it, and they have got to be famous.

If you look carefully, almost all Old Money secrets can be traced to a single source: a longer-term outlook.

I hope the snow covers everything so all the footsteps are silenced, and the whole city can be at peace.

I was the first woman to win a Tony for directing, but the second woman came along five minutes later.

If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price. Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.

I'm insatiably curious.

My style is where you see the individual and where a personality is communicated through actions, decisions, single objects and facts, where the whole draws together to form a history

For me there's nothing better than putting the white shirt on for England and playing for England. I'd get worried if it wasn't like that.