Nobody inspired me more than Julie Andrews, who is a classically trained soprano herself.

I would just like to say that opera is no longer about fat people in breastplates shattering wine glasses.

The musical heritage of Yorkshire is deep and wide.

I'm engaging my diaphragm as I'm speaking to you right now.

And woven into the fabric of this harsh existence was music.

There are a lot of unseen elements to having a successful singing career.

I performed in Sydney some years ago for the Sydney Festival and I am just so pleased to be returning to the wonderful Sydney Opera House and also performing in Melbourne for the first time.

As far as I was concerned the important thing was that the music was getting the attention as well as me so it was always a great way to get more of the public to connect with classical music, and opera particularly.

I don't just come from a musical family, but from a musical community.

I wouldn't want to criticise someone like Charlotte Church because she has done fantastically well, but personally I've always cared about the long term.

That was when I realised that music is the most profound, magical form of communication there is.

One of the problems that we face through the media attention that these artists receive is that there has been an awful lot of talk about opera and classical music being elite and being for an elitist group.

I do a lot of vocal hygiene.

Opera is credible drama now, and it costs less than going to a football match. What have you got to lose?

I saw The Sound of Music when I was 10 and thought that it was the most beautiful singing I had ever heard.

To tell you the truth, I never listen to opera at home.

I'm very pro presenting the best music I can to the widest audience possible.

I don't think I have ever met a single person who isn't moved by music of some kind.

Nobody inspired me more than Julie Andrews, who is a classically trained soprano herself.

What people really should be able to be confident in is that the standards of music- making that classically trained musicians present is elite, it is the best and all of us as artists should be committed to that.

It worries me that young singers think you can shortcut the training and go straight to fame and fortune, and programmes like Pop Idol have encouraged that.

I do hope that our spring will be starting shortly and we will all be able to enjoy some sunshine again.

Singing is an arduous business and it needs sacrifices.

Music is there to access those dark emotional corners that we don't normally get too close to.

I always look for the writers and what they're creating. If it's something I don't buy, it's really hard for me to play it. To me, it has to be grounded in some sort of reality. It's really hard to go to these extreme places if they're not grounded.

As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.

Most people that commit to a life of celibacy werent leaving that much on the table in the first place.

My favorite thing is just sitting in a makeup chair and letting makeup artists do their thing.

Writers write to influence their readers, their preachers, their auditors, but always, at bottom, to be more themselves.

Fans say I have a lot of sorrow in my eyes. It's true.

If you don't talk about families, then it's easy to disembody subprime mortgages and asset securitization and unemployment rates without remembering that every one of those numbers is a million families.

I'm a very jaded and cynical person.

I strongly believe that those of us who are privileged to have wealth should contribute significantly to try and create a better world for the millions who are far less privileged.

I have learned that the state of Israel cannot be ruled in our generation without deceit and adventurism. These are historical facts that cannot be altered.

Do you realize that I have had five albums in the Top 30. Elvis and The Beatles have never done that. I had five singles in the Top 5, I mean, no one's ever done that.

I think there are some songwriters who are just brilliant who can write and then I think there are some songwriters who can like me I have a problem writing chorus lyrics but I can write a song in a story like that.

I've lived my whole life exactly the way I've wanted to. Being gay, being white, being male, it doesn't matter to me. They're all things I'm born with.

I allowed life to give me presents. And everything just sort of happened the way it was supposed to happen. I did not pursue anything. It more or less pursued me.

Making movies is like herding cats.

As far as what people will expect I think people tend to read into things too much. Everybodys thinking that Im hardcore but thats an image.

We lived near a playground that had four baseball diamonds on it, and when I got to be 11, 12 years old, I was always over at the ballpark practicing or playing or doing something pertaining to baseball. And when I wasn't doing that, I was bouncing a rubber ball off the steps of my front porch at home.

It's easy to motivate a client when they are sitting on a bench right in front of you, but the real challenge for a trainer is to have that motivation exist even when you are not around.

I do think that with any kind of infidelity, on some level - unless you're dealing with a sociopath - there's always a reason.

The real story in housing will be a recovery in the economy that will drive a recovery in housing, When people are working, when there are more jobs, more households forming and people go back to buying cars, they're going to want their apartments and homes. And that's when you'll start to see a recovery in home prices.

It is much easier to modify an opinion if one has not already persuasively declared it.

The First Amendment has the same role in my life as a citizen and a writer as the sun has in our ecosystem.

The minute you feel secure about yourself and own the fact your dreams are honest true, other things fix themselves.

The little things, I can obey. But the big things - how we think, what we value - those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone - or any society - determine those for you.