O Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with O. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Opera is when a tenor and soprano want to make love, but are prevented from doing so by a baritone.”
“Opera lovers may be the narrowest people in the world.”
Source: After the Quake
“Opera needs to be a total escape from real life. To relate to what we're going through today is fine and dandy, but it's really about being transported and completely swept away by a romantic notion.”
“Opera on television in Europe is very important. If you think about it in the broadest sense: a lot of the dramas made in India with music are practically operas. They're not sung but they have a very big appeal. I don't know why American television people are so stupid but at the moment, they just seem to have some sort of a block. They just do what they do and they do it for a certain number of years. Then it wears out and they try something else. It's just a matter of time I think.”
“Opera once was an important social instrument - especially in Italy. With Rossini and Verdi, people were listening to opera together and having the same catharsis with the same story, the same moral dilemmas. They were holding hands in the darkness. That has gone. Now perhaps they are holding hands watching television.”
“Opera singing is in every way of inestimable value; a real heritage for all mankind that has been reached over centuries of studies, attempts, flights of the spirit.”
“Opera stars know that biology is destiny. Sometime in their 50s or early 60s, the powerful, flexible and ultimately mysterious instrument that has been the source of their artistry frays, cracks and disappears.”
“Opera teaches us to feel without fear—to stand still in the hurricane of emotion and not flinch.”
“Opera was an enormous part of my childhood. My parents were both opera buffs, and they met in the box seat of an opera performance. And I also was a boy soprano, so before puberty hit, I was onstage playing a wide variety of orphans and urchins in all sorts of operas, and the sheer melodrama of their stories was just always appealing to me.”
“Opera was born in Florence at the end of the sixteenth century. It derived almost seamlessly from its immediate precursor, the intermedio, or lavish between-the-acts spectacle presented in conjunction with a play on festive occasions. Plays were spoken, and their stage settings were simple: a street backed by palace facades for tragedies, by lower-class houses for comedies; for satyr plays or pastorals, the setting was a woodland or country scene. Meanwhile the ever-growing magnificence of state celebrations in Medici Florence on occasions such as dynastic weddings gave rise to a variety of spectacles involving exuberant scenic displays: naval battles in the flooded courtyard of the Pitti Palace, tournaments in the squares, triumphal entries into the city. These all called upon the services of architects, machinists, costume designers, instrumental and vocal artists. Such visual and aural delights also found their way into the theater—not in plays, with their traditional, sober settings, but between the acts of plays. Intermedi had everything the plays had not: miraculous transformations of scenery, flying creatures (both natural and supernatural), dancing, singing. The plays satisfied Renaissance intellects imbued with classical culture; the intermedi fed the new Baroque craving for the marvelous, the incredible, the impossible. By all accounts, no Medici festivities were as grand and lavish as those held through much of the month of May 1589 in conjunction with the marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinand I and Christine of Lorraine. The intermedi produced between the acts of a comedy on the evening of May 2 were considered to be the highlight of the entire occasion and were repeated, with different plays, on May 6 and 13. Nearly all the main figures we will read about in connection with the birth of opera took part in the extravagant production, which was many months in the making: Emilio de' Cavalieri acted as intermediary between the court and the theater besides being responsible for the actors and musicians and composing some of the music; Giovanni Bardi conceived the scenarios for the six intermedi and saw to it that his highly allegorical allusions were made clear in the realization. Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini were among the featured singers, as was the madrigal composer Luca Marenzio, who wrote the music for Intermedio 3, described below. The poet responsible for the musical texts, finally, was Ottavio Rinuccini, who wrote the poetry for the earliest operas...”
Source: Opera: A History in Documents
“Opera was never just entertainment—it was revolution wrapped in melody.”
“Opera was the cinema of its time, so to bring back that popular appeal, you just need to unleash its visceral immediacy and excitement. Most productions don't manage that - but when an opera does do it, you never forget it.”
“OPERA, n. A play representing life in another world, whose inhabitants have no speech but song, no motions but gestures and no postures but attitudes.”
Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary
“Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process.”
Source: Civilization
“Opera: I like it, except for all those howling sopranos and caterwauling tenors. (Why can't tenors sing like men?)”
Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
“Opera? Just what the world needs: more fat women screaming.”
“Operate cognitively.
Don't be a pushover so that people won't screw you over.”
“Operate from a place of love, be kind, and be yourself.”
“Operate from your heart not your hurt.”
“Operate less from a place of force and more from a place of trust”
“Operate locally but do not close doors for cross border opportunities”
Source: Average to Abundant: How Ordinary People Build Sustainable Wealth and Enjoy the Process
“Operating in a state of mindlessness robs us of our ability to create holistic wealth.”
Source: Holistic Wealth (Expanded and Updated): 36 Life Lessons to Help You Recover from Disruption, Find Your Life Purpose, and Achieve Financial Freedom
“Operating in an unlit world, the unconscious mind is a brilliant detective.”
Source: Advice from a Failure
“Operating in darkness leads to more darkness. Operating in light gives us all a chance to move in a better direction.”
“Operating superficially, the mind is random in its activity and stale in its insights and images. However, with practice and experience the mind is freed from the skull, and the fresh and new can appear as though for the first time. It”
Source: A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen
“Operating systems are like underwear — nobody really wants to look at them.”
“Operating-room errors hold a special terror for patients, if only because they seem like the most avoidable kind of complications. The occasional horror stories of patients who have the wrong leg removed or the wrong knee replaced generate the most headlines, as do tales of patients whose identities are mixed up entirely.”
“Operation Fast and Furious was flawed in concept and flawed in execution. The tactics used in this operation violate Department of Justice policy and should never have been used.”
“Operation 'forget bossy werewolf guy' has been green-lighted?" Sally asked.
Jen covered her face and groaned at Sally's words. "Did you seriously just say that? Operation forget bossy werewolf guy? Really, Sally?"
Sally nodded in all seriousness.
"Well, if you're going to call our night out an operation – and you know how I love ops– at least get it right. It's operation 'forget freaking fine, brooding, bossy werewolf guy'," Jen supplied.
"Good call.”
Source: Just One Drop
“Operation: Hansel & Gretel”
Source: Home For Christmas
“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country”
“Operation Northern Star with Canada has made significant progress in battling meth from the north, and we are engaged in numerous training opportunities in Mexico to help curb the problem from the south.”
“Operation Pedro Pan
It was like a raging wildfire that the Radio Swan story spread throughout Cuba! Many affluent Cubans, convinced that their children would actually be sent to Moscow for political indoctrination, panicked and sent their children to Florida. In all, as many as 14,000 Cuban children were airlifted to Miami, under a program named “Operation Peter Pan.” During the next two years, British Airways, under charter, flew many of the children to the United States by way of Kingston, Jamaica.
The unaccompanied children started arriving in Miami in October of 1960. They arrived in waves, with the children of the more affluent families coming first. Their parents trusted their friends and family in the United States to take care of their children. Since the Castro régime was having economic difficulties very few people thought that it would last as long as it did. Most of them still believed that Castro was just a passing phenomenon until a counter-revolution would depose him.”
“Operation Peter Pan spanned from 1960-62 whereby over 14,000 children were sent away from their families in Cuba, some never to reunite again. Pan Am flights took the children to Miami FL, 'Never-Never Land', and the children became known as the 'Peter Pans.' I wrote this song for my daughter, and it is sung for all the daughters and mothers, fathers and brothers who felt this pain of separation all because of governments and their politics.”
“Operation Ranch Hand skulle sannolikt ha varit en hyllad militär strategi om det inte varit för alla amerikanska soldater som också de drabbades av växtgifterna. Meningen var att gravitationskraften skulle dra dropparna nedåt, mot fienden. Men vindarna blandade sig i leken och männen som besprutade blev i sin tur besprutade.
Barnen som hade turen att växa upp fick under tio års tid se dessa åttio miljoner liter växtgifter i regnbågens alla färger falla som regn från en molnfri himmel.
Idag, fyrtiofem år senare, vittnar de många grava missbildningar hos barnbarnen till dessa barn om människans förmåga att skapa genmutationer, att omvandla naturen och höja sig själv till gudarnas nivå. Det står i vår makt att skapa ett ansikte med delvis upplösta drag, att få en andra skalle större än den första att växa ut, att få ögon att tränga ut sina hålor, att suga själen ur kroppen genom att tömma vätsketankar med en färg lika rosa som blommor, vit som lättsinnet, purpurröd som "purple hearts", grön som löven under monsunregnen och blå som den oändliga himlen”
Source: Em
“Operation Stronghold is a plan for defending a police department from attack. It was evidently developed for dealing with terrorist attacks and other such emergencies but in practice is now used whenever the authorities want to keep lawyers, human rights activists, journalists, or anybody else out of a police precinct. If you later complain your lawyer was not allowed to see you, the Ministry of the Interior routinely replies, "At this time training exercises were underway, and Operation Stronghold was being rehearsed. Only officers and staff of the police department were admitted to or allowed to leave the site."
They practice Operation Stronghold whenever I'm arrested.”
Source: Patriot: A Memoir
“Operational art is what military staffs do to support tactics and strategy.”
Source: On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines
“Operational deficiencies are made visible through statistical analysis, and likewise growth opportunities.”
“Operational dogs very often experienced failure. A track would lead nowhere, a search would find nothing, a quarry pursued would escape, and no matter how much the handler tried to compensate with fun exercises out of hours, any failure left a small mark and repeated failures accumulated. Success at new challenges, new games, was an unbeatable tonic for a dog and handler.”
Source: Cassius - The True Story of a Courageous Police Dog
“Operational effectiveness and strategy are both essential to superior performance.”
Source: Leadership, Strategy, and Innovation: Health Care Collection (8 Items)
“Operational inquiry has established that Danylo Shablia assisted in the espionage activities of his son, Peter Shablia, helping him organize an anti-Soviet network in the settlement of Tomakivka at his place of residence.”
Peter read the paragraph in the middle of the page.
“As you can see, the document is signed, stamped, and fully prepared for dispatch. Your choice, therefore, is limited. You understand perfectly well what consequences such a response will have for your father,” the NKVD operative Kidman added smoothly.
Inwardly, he was triumphant. The fabricated report had worked exactly as intended. The staged performance had exceeded expectations—he could read it on Peter’s face.
Now I must not lose the initiative, the operative thought, careful not to betray his satisfaction.
“Well? Surely you understand that you have no alternative,” he pressed.
Peter understood. From fellow prisoners who had endured the brutal interrogations of Soviet counterintelligence, he knew what such accusations meant for a former prisoner of war: almost certainly execution.
But he also knew something else. He would never be able to live with himself as a secret informant for the NKVD. That, to him, was worse than death.
He felt it physically—the sense of being driven into a corner. As had happened before in moments of moral extremity, a red haze clouded his mind. Some uncontrollable mechanism inside him broke loose, awakening a furious force that swept aside calculation and fear.
“To hell with you and your threats!” he shouted, hurling the papers into the operative’s face. “I want no part of your methods—or your masters!”
He leapt to his feet, seized a chair, and flung it toward Kidman.
“Cut me to pieces if you must—but I will not become an informer! You’ll drag me back here only as a corpse!”
He stormed out, slamming the door so hard it echoed down the corridor. A group of startled onlookers scattered as he made his way back to the barracks
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Four
Context note:
Set in 1942 during World War II, this scene portrays one of the coercive methods used by the NKVD—the Soviet secret police—to recruit forced informants inside labor camps. Prisoners were often threatened with fabricated charges against their relatives, including accusations of espionage or anti-Soviet activity, which could result in execution. By exploiting family loyalty and fear, the system sought to turn inmates into secret collaborators tasked with informing on fellow prisoners. The episode reflects the psychological warfare and moral pressure that defined Stalinist repression in Soviet labor camps.”
Source: Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга четверта. Перелам.: Єдність і боротьба протилежностей.
“Operational transformation is the secret sauce that turns chaos into efficiency.”
“Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military.”
“Operator! Give me the number for 911!”
“Operetėse nėra ir niekada nebuvo jokios moralės.
Operetėje visi užsiima tik tuo, kad apsimetinėja kuo nors kitu, nei yra pagal oficialų libretą, ir bando ką nors amoraliai suvilioti kiauksėdami įtartinas daineles. Operetę kaip žanrą apskritai galima priskirti prie mažųjų amoralumo formų.”
Source: Pavojingi žodžiai
“Opet krenem, vođena zvukom, idem u crkvu, idem iz očajanja, idem da se vidim s Bogom i ljudima, iako mislim da su vernici nevernici, jer ne veruju u ovaj svet, takav kakav jeste, nego u neki drugi, iako mislim da su nevernici pravi vernici, jer veruju u ovaj svet, takav kakav jeste, a ne u neki drugi, ko zna koji i kakav, eto tako mislim, pa nije čudo što je moj hram daleko, daleko, dugo ima da se ide, ali krenula sam, idem polako, idem laka koraka, zvuk me vodi, tek okupana i svetlog pogleda, u kome se reflektuju očaj i radost što se vidi istina, pa šta bude - neka bude.”
“Opet sam sam.
Možda je najbolje tako, ne očekuješ pomoć i ne bojiš se izdaje. Sam. Učiniću sve što mogu, ne uzdajući se u podršku koje nema, i onda je moje sve što postignem, i zlo i dobro.”
Source: DERVIS I SMRT
“Opgroeien in het warme Brabant was vooral veel galgje spelen met mijn autistische zus. Galgje, een prachtig spel, dat ze op de televisie helemaal hebben weten verknollen door de galg met een ballenbak te vervangen en de beul met Francois Boulangier. Wanneer je zo'n klassieke beul de kap zou aftrekken zou je weliswaar dezelfde psychotische glimlach zien als die van Francois, maar het punt is dat men die beulskap toch niet voor niets heeft uitgevonden, maar dat begrijpen ze in Hilversum kennelijk niet. Enfin, na lange gelukkige jaren oefenen waren inmiddels alle kinderen uit de buurt zo gewend aan het idee dat een beperkte taalschat een genadeloze dood voor hen in petto had dat het gros van mijn jeugdvrienden zichzelf later heeft verhangen, waarschijnlijk toen ze lucht kregen van mijn succes als schrijver.”
“OPHELIA: Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce
than with honesty?
HAMLET: Ay, truly. For the power of beauty will sooner
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd
than the force of honesty can translate beauty
into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox,
but now the time gives it proof. I did love
you once.”
Source: Hamlet
“OPHELIA: Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.
HAMLET: You should not have believed me. For
virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock
but we shall relish of it. I love you not.
OPHELIA: I was the more deceived.”
Source: Hamlet