Vocal study before age 20 is likely to be injurious, though some survive it in the hands of very careful and understanding teachers.

Inspired by the purse rather than the soul, the mercenary side fairly screams in many of the works put out by every day American publishers.

The real artist has no idea that he is sacrificing himself for art. He does “what he does for one reason and one reason only-he can't help doing it”

Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.

French is, in many ways, more difficult for an English-speaking person to sing. It is so full of complex and trying vowels. It requires the utmost subtlety.

When the student has her voice under complete control, it is safe to take up the lyric repertoire of Mendelssohn, Old English Songs, etc. How simple and charming they are!

The sincerity of the art worker must permeate the song as naturally as the green leaves break through the dead branches in springtime.

A student will send me an urgent appeal to hear her, saying she is poor and wants my advice as to whether it is worth while to continue her studies. I invariably refuse such requests.

The student who deceives himself into thinking that he is giving his life like an ascetic in the spirit of sacrifice for art, is the victim of a deplorable species of egotism.

We are rich in the quantity of songs rather than in the quality. The singer has to go through hundreds of compositions before he finds one that really says something.

In the piano, one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the voice, the instrument has to be developed by study.

One kind word can warm three winter months.

Nature can refuse to speak but she cannot give a wrong answer.

International law says people fighting for self-determination can use force in order to achieve their independence.

To know the world, one must construct it

The true friend of truth and good loves them under all forms, but he loves them most under the most simple form.

When ''night, Mother' opened, I did not know how long it would be before I would have another show on Broadway.

Withdraw into yourself and look.

Quentin Tarantino is controlled insanity, I would say. He's very loud and fun. I don't think there's anybody on the planet like him that I have ever met.

Safety is the most unsafe spiritual path you can take. Safety keeps you numb and dead. People are caught by surprise when it is time to die. They have allowed themselves to live so little.

Happiness is a talent like any other. It's another art form. Some people are good at it, some people aren't.