Always sing below your potential.

- Nellie Melba

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

- Nellie Melba

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

- Nellie Melba

One of the drawbacks of Fame is that one can never escape from it.

- Nellie Melba

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, …

- Nellie Melba

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

- Nellie Melba

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,…

- Nellie Melba

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

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