I may not lead the most dramatic life, but in my brain it's 'War and Peace' everyday. Rufus Wainwright More Quotes by Rufus Wainwright More Quotes From Rufus Wainwright I'm very blessed, mainly because even though my family is mostly in show business, it's really centered around music. My parents were very successful in many ways, but they weren't necessarily top of the charts. We were never wealthy because of music. We always had to work and we always had to struggle a little bit, and I think at the end of the day that's been very good for me, because I have a sense of it being very ephemeral. Rufus Wainwright successful blessed struggle I have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds, but I can't seem to get to grips with money. Rufus Wainwright i-can pounds seems I have an ounce of Lady Gaga's full-bodied ambition. Rufus Wainwright gaga ambition I have a good face for what I do. Rufus Wainwright faces I have a three-year-old daughter, which makes me more environmentally conscious. For me, it's about the future. Rufus Wainwright daughter three years I find so many songwriters today are missing an element ... either the production is amazing but the songs aren't, or it's the other way around. Rufus Wainwright elements missing song I do not consider myself a guitar player. My father is a guitar player - I'm not. Rufus Wainwright guitar player father I could always escape into this demi-monde of homosexuality, which I feel really indebted to. It stopped me being a 'mummy's boy.' Rufus Wainwright mummy homosexuality boys Climate change has always been sort of my main focus. I think also with [what happened in Fukushima, Japan] there's still a lot to think about in terms of what's coming down the pike into the world's oceans, too. Rufus Wainwright japan ocean thinking Prima Donna is my kind of love song to opera but it's not the full experience. Rufus Wainwright opera kind song I am regarded as a usurper, as an imposter and dilettante, because I do technically come from the wrong side of the tracks in musical terms. Rufus Wainwright usurpers track musical As an artist, you put so much into what you do and it can all be torn down in a nanosecond. Rufus Wainwright torn artist After years of hotels, I'm horribly inept at cleaning up after myself. Rufus Wainwright cleaning-up cleaning years Everything I do, I feel is genius. Whether it is or it isn't. Rufus Wainwright genius feels The moment something happens to one you love, it's twenty times more intense. You experience pain and enlightenment on a much vaster scale. Rufus Wainwright enlightenment pain twenties I've developed into quite a swan. I'm one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older - until I drop dead of beauty. Rufus Wainwright swans beauty people It seems like the older I get, the more unreal the world becomes. Rufus Wainwright unreal reality world When I was young, my mother [folk singer Kate McGarrigle] brought home this recording of Verdi's Requiem and we listened to it from top to bottom. By the end of it, I was a completely different person. It was literally a requiem mass for my former self. I was about 12 or 13. The Requiem just totally hooked into what I was going through emotionally - discovering my sexuality right at the time when AIDS was devastating my community and dealing with intense parental situations. Rufus Wainwright self mother home When I'm in the classical world, I really treat it as exactly classical and I don't try and spruce it up or jazz it up or make it easier for the masses. Rufus Wainwright jazz trying world The artist who gave me the most inspiration and direction, especially as a singer - and I absolutely consider myself a singer, 100 percent - is Nina Simone. She's my ultimate pianist-singer-type person. Rufus Wainwright singers artist inspiration
