Quotes from Maria Callas

On stage, I am in the dark.

I don't need the money, dear. I work for art.

Good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends.

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.

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

First I lost my voice, then I lost my figure and then I lost Onassis.

It's a very terrible thing to be Maria Callas, because it's a question of trying to understand something you can never really understand.

I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged.

It's a terrible thing to go through life thinking that you have a rock on your side when you haven't.

I prepare myself for rehearsals like I would for marriage.

To me, the art of music is magnificent, and I cannot bear to see it treated in a shabby way.

When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping.

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

I would like to be Maria, but there is La Callas who demands that I carry myself with her dignity.

When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point.

I don't know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over.

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.

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?

I cannot switch my voice. My voice is not like an elevator going up and down.

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.

I don't need the money, dear. I work for art.

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.

I prepare myself for rehearsals like I would for marriage.

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.