The more hedonistic you were, the better...I very much subscribed to that as a young artist.
Rufus WainwrightI made the decision to take on board the critical feedback. Reviews are something you can easily ignore as a performer or writer but I chose to not ignore them here and I think that I benefited. I think I'm stronger for it - and I have a tougher skin as a result.
Rufus WainwrightThere's no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable.
Rufus WainwrightI believe in freedom Freedom's apparently all I need But who's ever been free in this world? Who has never had to bleed in this world?
Rufus WainwrightWhen 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