Salvant Quotes & Sayings

I think when black performers performed in blackface, they were kind of taking back slave songs, but it was still a little bit iffy because they were performing, a lot of times, for white audiences who found it hilarious. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Classical singing - everything had to be homogenous, and it had to just feel like one continuous flow from top to bottom, bottom to top. And in jazz, I felt like, oh, well, I can sing these deep, husky lows if I want and then sing these really, like, tiny, laser highs if I want, as well. And I have - I have no obligation to make it sound like it's just one continuous flow. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Just reading that - just reading that a person can be black and still perform in blackface, making fun of black people for a living, and at the same time be a genius and be an incredible entertainer and at the same time be extremely conflicted and feel like - just feel terrible for doing that, essentially, which is what Bert Williams felt, from what I gather, from what I read - all of that just made - was so incredible to me. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Great dislike to the Bible was shown by those who conversed with me about it, and several have remarked to me, at different times, that if it were not for that book, Catholics would never be led to renounce their own faith. — Maria Monk

I doubt myself a lot. And I'm very, very just overly critical. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Elantris was the one place where she could remember feeling unconditional acceptance. She had not been a princess, she had been something far better - a member of a community where every individual was vital. — Brandon Sanderson

What the hell. You die. Everybody dies. So you die healthy. So what? — Patricia Cornwell

Whoever makes something having bought or contracted for all other held resources used in the process (transferring some of his holdings for these cooperating factors), is entitled to it. The situation is not one of something's getting made, and there being an open question of who is to get it. Things come into the world already attached to people having entitlements over them. — Robert Nozick

I did everything I could to not bring in any of the - any of the technical things I got from classical into jazz. And I did everything to really base it on my speaking voice and to just not try to make it sound pretty. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I never wanted to sound clean and pretty. I always wanted to have kind of a certain natural quality to my voice, and I wish it were more rough than it is. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I just became obsessed with looking for new singers, unknown singers, people that maybe have been forgotten, and really checking them out and analyzing what they do - and obsessive listening. I think that's the core of my work on music - has been just listening to things and listening to singers. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I'm never shaken or stirred. — Idris Elba

It is kind of lovely to be sitting alone, just thinking, very quiet, no one around. I don't feel alone or left out. — Vin Scully

I wasn't listening to that much classical music - not much more than anything else. I was really lucky to have parents who loved all kinds of music. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I just don't like to be in my own - I'm already myself, so I don't like to be in my own - like, watch myself. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

The industry is s**t, it's the medium that's great. — Lauren Bacall

I remember in school - in elementary school - I used to recite poems. We'd have to recite poems. And I would always just, like, roll on the floor, like, just make it such a huge, melodramatic portrayal of whatever it was. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I had a hole in my voice. It's an area in the voice where it's air. It's just - there's no - it's just very airy. And my classical teachers were just so frustrated with me because I would have these deep, low notes that were really strong, and the higher register was strong, but right in that middle area, it was really hard. It was like a passage. And many singers go through this and work it out. But I realized in jazz, I could just take advantage of that and take advantage of having a voice that was very different in different areas. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I do love being onstage. And I've always loved playing a character and being watched doing that. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I remember as a child I just would copy everyone else's handwriting, and now I have sort of a version of my sister's handwriting. And I feel like - sometimes I feel that way for my voice. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

It takes me a lot of time, and it's almost frustrating for the guys sometimes because they're waiting for a new song. And I - it's just so important for me to get the perfect, exact, right song. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I think I'm fascinated with history and - just in general. And I'm always interested in how did - how did this come to be? Why is this the way it is? And even singing classical voice, I quickly became more and more interested with early music, baroque voice. And that became an obsession to me - just figuring out how - who are the ancestors of whatever it is. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I see my skeleton walking down the street now. I'm walking behind it. Our feet touch the ground at the same time. I am my own shadow. The road we're walking along looks familiar. The trees lining the pavement have been bleached by the sun. There are stone steps on my left. I climb them. This is the route I used to take after school. It's very dark. The skeleton has disappeared. — Ma Jian

There are many ways to process, organize, and spread information, and it is only recently that science has become open-minded enough to treat all these different methods with wonder and amazement rather than dismissal and denial. So, — Frans De Waal

A lamb appears a lion, and we fear Each bush we see's a bear. — Francis Quarles

One thing that will make you quit smoking is sitting across from Keith Richards all night. I don't mind being ugly, but I sure don't want to look like that. — Kid Rock

The more I listened and became obsessed with singers, I feel like the more I realized that I had my own little thing that I could do. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I don't like being the focus of attention. It makes me very uncomfortable. And it's part of the reason I never look at videos of myself, or I very rarely listen to my music or even read things that I might've said. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Change is almost always negative. Things degenerate. — Woody Allen