Quotes from Andrea Bocelli

I like to windsurf and ski, and most of all I love to ride horses. The wilder and faster the better! If I'm presented with a fast horse or a fast boat, I still get that shiver of excitement and I cannot resist. Luckily I never seem to have any accidents, and thank God for that.

In preparing my thesis, I have had the pleasure of collecting testimonies from colleagues such as Placido Domingo but also from singing teachers and musicologists. The entire course of study has confirmed what I already thought, that the value and meaning of opera singing, at the beginning of the third millennium, remain intact.

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.

Let me say that I've never thought to conduct because the conductor has to think to the music before the orchestra. And the orchestra comes later. For me, it's terrible.

I change the language with which I use my voice. In opera, I know I have an orchestra behind me; I have to communicate to people very far from me.

I studied to be a lawyer, and after that I did something, obviously, completely different. With change, you learn something. If you do the same thing over and over again, you never learn anything.

I don't like being called 'macho.' Macho basically means stupid and a real Italian man is not macho, he's smart. That's smart in both senses: elegant and clever.

I like very much to ride horses. I like soccer, I have had a passion for boxing since I was a child, although it would be stupid for me to box.

I prefer to work for my country in a free and independent way. I was born free, and I want to die free. I am always suspicious of ideology. Instead, I respect men with ideas.

I began when I was a child, because I was born and grew up in a little village. And many people ride the horses. So, it was a big - it has been a big passion for me.

I try to find some time for my horses. I began when I was a child, because I was born and grew up in a little village. And many people ride the horses. So, it was a big - it has been a big passion for me.

I like reading... French, Russian classics - Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Flaubert. I also like Hemingway, Virginia Woolf.

A positive frame of mind will definitely enhance your travelling experience. If I'm not in a positive frame of mind then the whole thing definitely becomes more of a challenge for me.

Singing provides a true sense of lightheartedness. If I sing when I am alone, I feel wonderful. It's freedom.