"In opera, as with any performing art, to be in great demand and to command high fees you must be good of course, but you must also be famous. The two are different things."

“Nothing that has happened has made me feel gloomy or remain depressed. I love my life.”

“For all three of us, the Caracalla concert was a major event in our lives. I hope I am not immodest to think it was also unforgettable for most of the people who were present.”

“As an art form, opera is a rare and remarkable creation. For me, it expresses aspects of the human drama that cannot be expressed in any other way, or certainly not as beautifully.”

“I am a very simple person. In spite of all that has happened to me, I have tried to remain the simple person I started out.”

“I'm not a politician, I'm a musician. I care about giving people a place where they can go to enjoy themselves and to begin to live again. To the man you have to give the spirit, and when you give him the spirit, you have done everything.”

“Bernard Holland, "Luciano Pavarotti, Italian Tenor, Is Dead at 71", The New York Times, 6 September 2007, obituary”