I breathe low down in the diaphragm, not, as some do, high up in the upper part of the chest. ..In breathing I find, as in other matters pertaining to singing, that as one goes on and practices, no matter how long one may have been singing, there are constantly new surprises awaiting one.

Luisa Tetrazzini, one of the great coloratura sopranos of the late 19th and early 20th century