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" I had been warned by other directors that opera is hell. The singers don't want to do what you want. "

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" Chaos is a good thing. "

" If you decide to work with the opera world, chances are there are going to be people who resist that. "

" I wouldn't be happy to be a specialist. There are some very interesting artists in history who refused to be nailed down into a category, like Da Vinci or Jean Cocteau. You could say Cocteau was a great poet but also a film-maker, interested in theatre, sculpture, and could never identify with any of these forms exclusively. "

" Sylvie Guillem is the best dancer in the world. "

" In Las Vegas, you confront yourself with your darkest desires, because they're all possible there. "

" I will always demand the right for theatre to talk about anything and anyone. Without exception. None. "

" A lot of people hated every moment of my 'Ring.' And a lot of people who had never been to an opera bought subscriptions to the next season. "

" When I went into the conservatory at 17, then I was able to open up and accept everything about myself and show my feminine side as well as my masculine. "

" My taste comes from when I was 12 years old and saw Genesis or Laurie Anderson or some performance artist who had put paint on himself. I've seen a lot of theater, but that's not what woke up my taste to become a director; nontheatrical things were much more theatrical than the theater I was seeing. "

" People think that it is negative, but in fact, chaos can be very fertile. "

" Writing is very much perceived as something distinct from performance. I don't see it like that. "

" The important thing is not to know where you are going, to be open to accidents. That's what keeps it fun. "

" I was a privileged observer to be there when Celine Dion opened at Caesars Palace and then the second Gulf War started. It was an odd thing to see the impact both events had on Vegas. The place was riding high after Celine, but overnight, once war was declared, it was deserted. "

" The first 'Ring' in Bayreuth was about the poetical world, the mythological world. "

" Of course I had friends, but it was very limiting because there was always a chance that at every corner, someone would be laughing at me or waiting to beat me up. I had a very lonely childhood because of that. "

" There's nothing sadder than when things happen the way you've planned them, because we don't have a lot of imagination, you know. "

" I find it very strange when people say that they are trying to solve 'Uncle Vanya' or find a solution for 'Henry V.' Plays aren't puzzles. They are about playing. But so much theatre has become about performing and acting rather than playing, which is a great pity because audiences are captivated by watching people play. "

" If Darwin's theories are true, then we have within us the physical memory of when we were fish or apes. "

" Artists always try to make something that is going to be relevant and up-to-the-minute. "

" I can't really define myself as a dramatist or as an actor or as someone who is interested in music. "

" I want to be surprised by life... I think that's more interesting. "

" I am interested in suffering and, in particular, the Buddhist idea that in pain, you can find beauty. "

" When I directed the 'Ring' cycle at the Metropolitan Opera in New York recently, there were people texting all through the show. But theatre isn't a communication device: it's a communion. "

" When we work on a new theatre piece, we improvise a lot. But it's the opposite in opera, where everything is fixed. "

" Technology can become a crutch. Sometimes it's there just to hide behind when you're shy of what you're trying to say. "

" I always thought I was more of a mommy's boy, because she was charming, talkative, a great storyteller. But as I dug back into my past, I realized I am exactly like my father on so many levels, although I never thought I inherited anything from him. "

" Reading fairytales to children expands their imaginations. "

" I'm not good at entertainment. I don't give myself to all the interviews, game shows, or talk shows. "

" A show is good when there is a meeting of time and space, when time and space become irrelevant. "

" I'm a follower of people not necessarily connected with the theater. "