Beverly Sills Quotations

I've always tried to go a step past wherever people expected me to end up.

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

In youth we run into difficulties. In old age difficulties run into us.

There is a growing strength in women but it's in the forehead, not the forearm.

A happy woman is one who has no cares at all; a cheerful woman is one who has cares but doesn't let them get her down.

Anger begins with folly, and ends with repentance.

You don't always get what you ask for, but you never get what you don't ask for... unless it's contagious!

A primary function of art and thought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit him to stand beyond it in an autonomy of perception and judgment.

My voice had a long, nonstop career. It deserves to be put to bed with quiet and dignity, not yanked out every once in a while to see if it can still do what it used to do. It can't.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

I lived through the garbage. I might as well dine on the caviar.

Attachment to spiritual things is... just as much an attachment as inordinate love of anything else.

There is a growing strength in women, but it is in the forehead, not in the forearm.

So long as it doesn't get to the point where you don't remember whose opera you're listening to, I'm willing to experiment.

There is something in me-I just can't stand to admit defeat.

The press frequently sneers at the hype devoted to a superstar, but the press itself is responsible for all the hype.

I've always tried to be cheerful, because I think people who whine are boring, and I never could tolerate bores.

Don't get me started on critics.

Opera is an extremely disciplined art form, and every excess a singer indulges in has a direct effect on the voice.

I know that anybody who does all this and doesn't have to, everything thinks she's very driven. The truth is, I enjoy it all so! Can't it be that simple? I think it is! I don't feel overworked. I get a constant kick out of being heavily committed. Is that sick or something? God, what would I do sitting still?

Just sing it. Don't prove you can sing it. I know you can, you know you can. So just do it, because if you try to prove it, you'll lose.

There are an awful lot of skinny people in the cemetery.

When you're in love, the whole world is Jewish.

There were times in my career ... when I felt like a trapeze artist doing dangerous somersaults without a net underneath. When you execute those somersaults flawlessly, the audience feels the same sense of triumph the performer does.

The Lourie Center eases the burden of children and their families through early intervention and diagnoses and treatment.

There is no short cut to a place worth going.

The last major childhood disease remains and it's the worst of them all: nuclear war.

As soon as I arrive at the house, Laurie starts running, hits my chest, knocks me down, and licks my face. It's become a family ritual.

Why let one high C ruin your whole evening?

I don't share blame. I don't share credit. And I don't share desserts.

I can't be happy every day but I can be cheerful.

I never share credit or desserts.

I really do believe I can accomplish a great deal with a big grin, I know some people find that disconcerting, but that doesn't matter.

It seemed no longer important whether everyone loved me or not, more important now was for me to love them

There is no shortcut to anyplace worth going.

Opera is music AND drama. I'm prepared to sacrifice the beautiful note for the meaningful sound any time... I can make a pretty tone as well as anyone, but there are times when the drama of a scene demands the opposite of a pretty sound.

I had found a kind of serenity, a new maturity... I didn't feel better or stronger than anyone else but it seemed no longer important whether everyone loved me or not -more important now was for me to love them. Feeling that way turns your whole life around; living becomes the act of giving.

Art is the signature of civilizations.

There are no short cuts to anywhere worth going.

Attachment to spiritual things is.. just as much an attachment as inordinate love of anything else.

It was a large voice, and she was a little girl. You know, we were Mutt and Jeff onstage.