I never step upon a stage without asking myself whether I will succeed in finishing the opera. The fact is that a conscientious singer is never sure of himself or of anything. He is ever in the hands of Destiny.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the uncertainty and pressure artists face before performing.
Enrico Caruso expresses the inherent anxiety that comes with being a performer, particularly the fear of not delivering a successful performance. He acknowledges that no matter how experienced an artist may be, the outcome is ultimately unpredictable and reliant on various external factors, hinting at the interplay between talent and fate in the world of art.
In practice
During a speech at a performing arts festival.
To become a singer requires work, work, and again, work! It need not be in any special corner of the earth; there is no one spot that will do more for you than other places. It doesn't matter so much where you are if you have intelligence and a good ear.
It is too bad that the public expects from me, always, perfection which it is impossible for me always to attain. I am not a machine. I am a human being.
It was he who impressed, time and again, the necessity of singing as nature intended, and - I remember - he constantly warned, don't let the public know that you work. So I went slowly. I never forced the voice.
Popularity is the crown of laurel which the world puts on bad art. Whatever is popular is wrong.
I talk about life, and I make universal music with an American style - and that's what I do.
When I first began choreographing, I never thought of it as choreography but as expressing feelings. Though every piece is different, they are all trying to get at certain things that are difficult to put into words. In the work, everything belongs to everything else - the music, the set, the movement and whatever is said.
Making a movie is a network of decisions that keep multiplying as you go. You leave a trail of decisions behind you, and that's how you start to see the shape of what you've done. When you get far enough, you turn around and say, 'Ha, that's the movie.' It's only then that you find out if it's going to work or not.
When I was a child, I used to paint intently. The older I become, and the closer death approaches, the brighter my life gets day by day.
I think the moment you start trying to please a fan base is when you start going downhill. I'm going to always, always write about what I want, even if it doesn't necessarily cater to most of them.
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