“There was such an incredible logic to kissing, such a metal-to-magnet pull between two people that it was a wonder that they found the strength to prevent themselves from succumbing every second. Rightfully, the world should be a whirlpool of kissing into which we sank and never found the strength to rise up again.”

—Bel Canto, Ann Patchett

“Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it. . .It's a kind of talent in itself, to be an audience, whether you are a spectator in the gallery or you are listening to the voice of the world's greatest soprano. Not everyone can be an artist. There have to be those who witness the art, who love and appreciate what they have been privileged to see.”

—Ann Patchett, Bel Canto

Marilyn Horne on Starting Out as a Soprano

  • Marilyn Horne: I think I began as a soprano because I began so damn young! Who's got any chest voice at five years of age?!
  • Luciano Pavarotti: Who's got any /chest/ at five years of age?
  • Joan Sutherland: *No, Luciano. That's another thing.*

“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

“It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.”

—Ann Patchett, Bel Canto

“There was such an incredible logic to kissing, such a metal-to-magnet pull between two people that it was a wonder that they found the strength to prevent themselves from succumbing every second. Rightfully, the world should be a whirlpool of kissing into which we sank and never found the strength to rise up again.”

—Ann Patchett, Bel Canto

“He kissed her. There was such an incredible logic to kissing, such a metal-to-magnet pull between two people that it was a wonder that they found the strength to prevent themselves from succumbing every second. Rightfully, the world should be a whirlpool of kissing into which we sank and never found the strength to rise up again.”

—Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 

“He wondered if it was possible to die from wanting someone so much. In this narrow hall of plates all he could smell was her, lemons and the dusty, sun-bleached smell of her uniform, the softer, more complicated smell of Carmen's skin. Thirty seconds to kiss her neck, that wasn't asking so much. He would not even mind if she kept on writing. He would kiss her that gently, her pencil need never leave the page.”

—Ann Patchett, Bel Canto

“The kind of love that offers its life so easily, so stupidly, is always the love that is not returned.”

—Ann Patchett, Bel Canto

Who ever told Anna Netrebko that she would be even a REMOTE fit for bel canto let alone PERFECT for it should get a good slap.

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“It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.”

—Ann Patchett, Bel Canto
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