“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.””

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

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.

And the only people I fear are those who never have doubts… Save us all from arrogant men, and all the causes they’re for.

It’s weird that people expect me to be funny. I find it a real burden when I’m expected to be humorous on talk shows.

I like the word “indolence.” It makes my laziness seem classy.

I use humour a lot. My foundation is tragic, but my appearance is humorous.

Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.

Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.

The first word you see at the airport is ‘terminal’.

There are many in this old world of ours who hold that things break about even for all of us. I have observed, for example, that we all get the same amount of ice. The rich get it in the summertime and the poor get it in the winter.