Maria Callas

"What a lovely voice, but who cares?"

"It takes a little more time to get into the role, but not very much more. In making a record you don't have the sense of projection over a distance as in an opera house. We have this microphone and th…"

"What said that impressed me was: "When one wants to find a gesture, when you want to find how to act on stage, all you have to do is listen to the music. The composer has already seen to that." If you…"

"Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddamn rules."

"Bel canto does not mean beautiful singing alone. It is, rather, the technique demanded by the composers of this style — Donizetti, Rossini, and Bellini. It is the same attitudes and demands of Mozart …"

"an extraordinary coach, sharp as a vecchio lupo . He opened a world to me, showed me there was a reason for everything, that even fiorature and trills ... have a reason in the composer's mind, that th…"

"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."

"I admire Tebaldi's tone; it's beautiful — also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice."