“Why not say it? I’m bursting out of my cocoon. It was all too nice in the past – it never knocked anyone out. But last year… my first opening night at the Met – I looked out and heard all that cheering… for me… And I loved it.”

Inside I have been a stabber, a screamer, a die-er from way back.

Young singers ask me, “Do I have to live in New York?” I say, “You can live wherever you want-as long as people think you live in New York.”

Claude Jade is a brave nice young lady. But I don’t give any guarantee what she will do on a taxi’s back seat.

You should never tell someone they have a nice dimple, because maybe they were shot in the face with a BB gun.

If I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I’m grateful that so many of those moments are nice.

I think being a woman is like being Irish, Everyone says you’re important and nice, but you take second place all the time.

Treat everyone with politeness and kindness, not because they are nice, but because you are.

Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

I’m stoned on a nice boat ride. I fake a smile, you fake a life.

I can take care of myself but still its nice knowing you love me enough to do the same.