Beverly Sills Quotes

The kids are not brought up to have minds of their own as individuals.

My happiness is not dependent on others; it comes from within. Spiritual growth in a person is never encouraged, but it is important. I don't know why people want to judge others instead of doing their own thing. I firmly feel that I don't need to follow or live according to other people's rules. I like living life the way I want to.

Freedom is just another word: It seems to get truer the older I get.

I got tired of depending on other people, and I had this strong desire to make music of my own. I decided to start writing my own tunes and just see what could happen.

I'm in control of my musical career, which means more than awards and record sales. And that freedom is exactly what my dad fought for, too.

Children have their own mind.

I used to just let people tell me what to do. I didn't really have a mind of my own, and I couldn't really say yes or no to things because I didn't really know what I wanted, but now I feel really confident in the fact that I can really be distinctive on what I want and how I want to do things.

The first and most important thing an individual can do is to become an individual again, decontrol himself, train himself as to what is going on and win back as much independent ground for himself as possible

Having children, they're not your property. They need to figure out their own views. I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness, but I can't speak on their behalf.

I need to find a way of retaining creative control.

I don't work to any commissions. I do what I want to do.

Toward the end of his life, one can sense that he was no longer thinking his way into the minds of others, causing them to speak on his behalf, but that he was now speaking for himself.

Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.

My mom was an orphan, and there was never anybody to tell her what she could or couldn't do. At the core, she's probably an artist - an artist and a feminist.

You're always trying to balance your understanding of who you are and what you need, and your longing and imaginings of freedom.

I do love being solo because I can have more of my own creative input to every aspect of my career.

The freedom you feel when you're actually in control of your own music is fantastic.

I am definitely an individual.

It is important not to copy other people's careers but set the tone of who you want to be. My father's always encouraged me to do that.

Choosing what you want to do, and when to do it, is an act of creation.

I don't live in France; I live in myself.

Women don't have to be defined by others. We have the power to define ourselves: by telling our own stories, in our own words, with our own voices.

I posed nude to show my parents they couldn't dictate to me any more - that I control my life.

If you want to sing out, sing out, and if you want to be free, be free, cause there's a million ways to be, you know that there are.

The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.