Maria Callas quotes

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. (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
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
Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddam rules.
Maria Callas
It's a terrible thing to go through life thinking that you have a rock on your side when you haven't.
Maria Callas
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.
Maria Callas
I cannot switch my voice. My voice is not like an elevator going up and down.
Maria Callas
I admire Tebaldi's tone; it's beautiful - also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice.
Maria Callas
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.
Maria Callas
When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point.
Maria Callas
What [Tullio 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. (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
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.
Maria Callas
I don't need the money, dear. I work for art.
Maria Callas
Love is so much better when you're not married.
Maria Callas
On stage, I am in the dark.
Maria Callas
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.
Maria Callas
I don't know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over.
Maria Callas
When the curtain rises, the only thing that speaks is courage.
Maria Callas
I will always be as difficult as necessary to achieve the best.
Maria Callas
Only when I was singing did I feel loved. (Maria Callas)
When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping.
Maria Callas
I would like to be Maria, but there is La Callas who demands that I carry myself with her dignity.
Maria Callas
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.
Maria Callas
What a lovely voice, but who cares?
Maria Callas