Top 10 Quotes by Nellie Melba

The first rule in opera is the first rule in life: see to everything yourself

The first rule in opera is the first rule in life: see to everything yourself

Nellie Melba

Art, Opera, Firsts

1925 Melodies and Memories.

Music is not written in red, white and blue. It is written in the heart's blood of the composer.

Nellie Melba

Art, Blue, Blood

There are two things I like stiff and one of them's jelly.

Nellie Melba

Two, Jelly, Absurdity

You won’t be famous until people start saying the worst things they can about you. Don’t worry! It’s a good sign!

Nellie Melba

People, Worry, Worst

The eternal task of song can never be finished in a single lifetime. That is the beauty and fascination of the art. Once you begin to phrase finely, you will feel more joy in the beautiful finish of a beautiful phrase than that caused by the loudest applause of an immense audience. The latter excites for a moment; the former endures forever.

Nellie Melba

Beautiful, Song, Art

If I'd been a housemaid I'd have been the best in Australia - I couldn't help it. It's got to be perfection for me.

Nellie Melba

Art, Women, Australia

Said to the conductor Fritz Hart. Quoted in John Thompson On Lips of LivingMen (1962).

What are we singers but the silver-voiced messengers of the poet and the musician?

Nellie Melba

Art, Musician, Singers

If you wish to understand me at all (and to write an autobiography is only to open a window into one's heart) you must understand first and foremost, that I am an Australian.

Nellie Melba

Writing, Heart, Australia

1925 Melodies and Memories, ch.1.