“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.”

To sing is an expression of your being, a being which is becoming.

First I lost weight, then I lost my voice, and now I’ve lost Onassis.

What is there in life if you do not work? There is only sensation, and there are only a few sensations— you cannot live on them. You can only live on work, by work, through work. How can you live with self-respect if you do not do things as well as lies in you?

When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I’m slipping.

My poor sight gives me an advantage. I can’t see the people in the audience who are scratching their heads while I am lost in my role and giving everything I have to the drama.

I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must.

I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not a devil, either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged.

I don’t need the money, dear. I work for art.

Only when I was singing did I feel loved.

I cannot switch my voice. My voice is not like an elevator going up and down.

When the curtain rises, the only thing that speaks is courage.

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.

Love is so much better when you are not married.

It’s a terrible thing to go through life thinking that you have a rock on your side when you haven’t.

I was always too mature for my age – and not very happy. I had no young friends. I wish I could go back to those days. If I could only live it all again, how I would play and enjoy other girls. What a fool I was.

Don’t talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddam rules.

Mark Ryden is my favorite visual artist.

I listen to a lot of music. But I definitely haven’t looked at an artist and like thought I want to have a song like this.

I think artists are aware that talking gives a songwriter so much material. If they just tell us what’s happening, it’s so much easier for us to write a song that’s specific to them.

Just because you’re an artist doesn’t give you an excuse to be an asshole.

I want to be real. I want to be a real person. That’s what an artist is. An artist has to be honest. Without honesty, there’s nothing.

When I started, I was 23 years old directing my own music videos; I’m co-producing on my album; I’m hands-on with everything. I’m more than just a pretty boy: I’m an artist. I’m not saying I’m a hip-hop music artist, I’m an artiste.

Being an artist is this kind of occupation in which you have to make people care about your obsession.

An artist could have a really big relationship, and then they break up, and any song after that, people are automatically going to assume that that song is about that person.