“There must be a law against forcing children to perform at an early age. Children should have a wonderful childhood. They should not be given too much responsibility.”

I will always be as difficult as necessary to achieve the best.

I will not be sued! I have the voice of an angel!

ART is domination. It’s making people think that for that precise moment in time there is only one way, one voice. Yours.

I want to be a mature artist with a different kind of thinking.

The public is a monster and that is why I am not eager to return to the stage.

Paris dictates fashion to the whole world.

I don’t know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over.

On stage, I am in the dark.

An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.

Real friends are very special, but you have to be careful because sometimes you have a friend and you think they are made of rock, then suddenly you realise they’re only made of sand.

Don’t come to me with your troubles. I have to work for my money and you are young enough to work too. If you can’t make enough money to live on you can jump out of the window or drown yourself.

I belong to the givers. I want to give a little happiness even if I haven’t had much for myself. Music has enriched my life and, hopefully – through me, a little – the public’s. If anyone left an opera house feeling more happy and at peace, I achieved my purpose.

I prepare myself for rehearsals like I would for marriage.

Some say I have a beautiful voice, some say I have not. It is a matter of opinion. All I can say, those who don’t like it shouldn’t come to hear me.

When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point.

Women are not pals enough with men, so we must make ourselves indispensable. After all, we have the greatest weapon in our hands by just being women.

The first half of life is learning to be an adult-the second half is learning to be a child.

All people on the planet are children, except for a very few. No one is grown up except those free of desire.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

It is no use to preach to children if you do not act decently yourself.

I feel more of a person than a child, I feel quite indepedent of anyone.

A child miseducated is a child lost.

Education is teaching our children to desire the right things.

I love spending time with my children, it’s what makes me happiest!