Maria Callas

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.

— Maria Callas

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.

— Maria Callas

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.

— Maria Callas

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

— Maria Callas

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 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.

— Maria Callas

What a lovely voice, but who cares?

— Maria Callas

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

— Maria Callas

I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must.

— Maria Callas

I prepare myself for rehearsals like I would for marriage.

— Maria Callas

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

— Maria Callas