Iris Apfel Quotes

To sing opera, one needs two things: the voice and the passion - and above all, the passion.

I never really thought about pursuing singing because my whole life was about dance and singing just kind of came with it.

Singing didn't really come naturally to me, I don't think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing. I never was really worried about it, though, because I was writing songs, and that was the most important thing to me.

There are some musicians who are talented and see themselves as some kind of natural geniuses or something because of a certain amount of natural ability. But that is often rarely the case over the long term.

To become a singer requires work, work, and again, work! It need not be in any special corner of the earth; there is no one spot that will do more for you than other places. It doesn't matter so much where you are if you have intelligence and a good ear.

There are hundreds of people running around with great voices. If they would study and develop them they could become great singers.

I would love to be an amazing singer. I take voice lessons. It's good to have as a dancer - to be able to sing and act, too, because for a Broadway show or musical, you have to be able to do everything.

It takes a long time to get to be a diva. I mean, you gotta work at it.

I spent a lot of time developing my chops when I was younger. In doing so, I found that one of the hardest things was dealing with what to practice.

I was always, you know, a decent player growing up. And yes, I was born with a certain amount of so-called 'natural ability.' But I also worked and sacrificed a lot to try to maximize what I was born with - which I think is important to point out.

Talent is only a part of the work. It is the work that generates the talent.

You are born with the talent; then you work with it. You develop the right mentality.

One thing you notice is, there's a lot of people with raw talent, and then there's people who take that talent and work hard.

Either you have the ability to hit or not. But I also think you have to work at it.

It's about putting in the hours and going through the paces.

You can have a knack for dancing, but you still have to practice till your feet are bleeding to be worthy of being in front of an audience.

To stay a great singer or guitar player, you've got to do it 24/7. That's what I do.

Because I came out as a singer, I took the time to get an acting coach.

I truly believe the discipline I have honed as a dancer will bring me more opportunities as an actor.

I didn't even start playing the piano until I was about 13 or 14. I guess I must have had a little talent or whatever-you-call-it, but I practised regularly, and that's what counts.

Everybody out there watches the show and has expectations of wanting to be an 'Idol', but we're going to teach them how much hard work goes into it.

Whether I sound like Sammy or not is purely coincidence. You have got to hand it to him, he sings his ass off. There is no moss on that stone.

My father taught me that the only way you can make good at anything is to practice, and then practice some more.

You can work hard to sharpen your talent, to get better at whatever it is that you do, and I think that's what it comes back to.