Andrea Bocelli Quotes

For me, going to Minneapolis is like going to Mecca.

Religion points to that area of human experience where in one way or another man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage.

I have been to Golden Temple couple of times now. I feel calm and at peace when I am there. It's a very special place for me because I have a lot of childhood memories with my family there.

If your church is the theatre, New York means a lot - it's a pilgrimage you want to make.

Yes, I played inside the Taj Mahal, but the experience was also a quiet, inner experience.

I truly believe that God brought this, Dorothy Day script to me, because for a long time up until I was in eight grade - I wanted to be a nun.

I will never forget experiencing Venice for the first time. It feels like you are transported to another time - the art, music, food and pure romance in the air is like no other place.

The first time I stepped onto the rooftop of the Potala Palace in Lhasa in 1985, I felt, as never before or since, as if I was stepping onto the rooftop of my being: onto some dimension of consciousness that I'd never visited before.

As I toiled up the Mount of Olives, in the very footsteps of Christ, panting with the heat and the difficult ascent, I found it utterly impossible to conceive that the Deity, in human form, had walked there before me.

I love New York. I first came here with my Mom when I was in 9th grade. I took the subway for the first time and the doors closed between me and my Mom, and I was so scared. I could see her through the window and I didn't know what to do. I got off at the next stop and she caught up to me, but I couldn't stop crying.

To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.

I was in my thirteenth year when I heard a voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very much afraid.

For the first time ever I was taking the family on the road. We stayed with my in-laws, which on life's list of experiences ranks right below sitting in a tub full of scissors.

I traveled with then-Senator Obama to Israel in 2008. I will never forget our time in the holy city of Jerusalem and following behind him as he approached the Western Wall - and even in the dark hours of that very early morning, it was a place bustling with energy afforded by one's faith.

I remember, for the first time, sitting down and consuming books in a matter of hours. This was such a new experience for me because reading, up until that point, had been such a struggle and source of stress. I think I just needed to find the right kind of stories with which I could identify.

A testimony of the truth of the gospel does not come the same way to all people. Some receive it in a unique, life-changing experience. Others gain a testimony slowly, almost imperceptibly until, one day, they simply know.

Why do born-again people so often make you wish they'd never been born the first time?

I had a dream that my dad passed away and that Jesus came into the room and he was basically knocking on my door, saying, 'Hey, you need to find out more about me.' So that Sunday morning I ended up going to church, and that's when I got saved.

I would really like to hear somebody who is really articulate about the elements of their faith conversion. I'm not.

I'd love to do a food tour of Italy but the next break I'll be having is skiing with my dad in Georgia. He's 58 and only just started skiing, so I'm looking forward to joining him on the slopes.

Sometimes I go back and listen to the very first day I went to church. I listen to that sermon all the time, because that was the sermon that was life changing for me.

There's one profound difference between secular and religious pilgrimages. It's inconceivable that a Muslim would feel a sense of anticlimax when reaching Mecca. But for a secular pilgrim, the potential for disappointment is always there.

My dad loved music, and he passed that on to me. I fell in love with hip-hop the first time I heard it. I started writing raps at a young age. I wasn't a Christian at that point. I thought I was, but I don't think I was, looking back on it.

I have visited Ajmer Sharif Dargah a couple of times before, and each time, it fills my heart with so much love and gratitude.

Every year we go to Shirali, which is between Murudeshwar and Bhatkal. We have our roots there. The most special part of the trip is visiting the Shri Chitrapur Math.