Maria Callas Quotes
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When I did not become enemies, then I understand that there was nothing standing.
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I don't need the money, dear. I work for art.
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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.
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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.
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That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends.
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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.
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If I have stepped on some people at times because I am at the top, it couldn't be helped. What should I do if someone gets hurt... retire?
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What [Tulio Serafin] 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 take the trouble to really listen with your soul and with your ears - and I say soul and ears because the mind must work, but not too much also - you will find every gesture there. And it is all true, you know.
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When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point.
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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 this magnifies all details of a performance, all exaggerations. In the theater, you can get away with a very large, very grand phrase. For the microphone, you have to tone it down. It's the same as making a film, your gestures will be seen in close-up, so they cannot be exaggerated as they would be in a theater.
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The public is a monster and that is why I am not eager to return to the stage.
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I want to be a mature artist with a different kind of thinking.
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Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddam rules.
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You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.
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Only my dogs will not betray me.
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On stage, I am in the dark.
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I don't know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over.
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I admire Tebaldi's tone; it's beautiful - also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice.
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To sing is an expression of your being, a being which is becoming.
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I would like to be Maria, but there is La Callas who demands that I carry myself with her dignity.
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Love is so much better when you are not married.
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I cannot switch my voice. My voice is not like an elevator going up and down.
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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.
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My poor sight gives me an advantage. I can't see the people in the audience who are scratching their heads while I am lost in my role and giving everything I have to the drama.
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[During fee negotiations for singing in Vienna:] I'm not interested in money, but it must be more than anyone else gets.
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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.
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Only when I was singing did I feel loved.
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I will not be sued! I have the voice of an angel!
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When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping.
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I was always too mature for my age - and not very happy. I had no young friends. I wish I could go back to those days. If I could only live it all again, how I would play and enjoy other girls. What a fool I was.
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