Rufus Wainwright Quotes

When you make an album, you have to decide how much you want to give away; you have to decide how much you want to open up. Because the more you open up the more rewarding it can be but the more dangerous it can be. If you really open up and it gets panned it's really painful.

Comedy is frightening at first because you're opening yourself up. When it's just you and people hate it, you're like, "Oh God. Do they hate me?"

I'm vulnerable to criticism. Any artist is, because you work alone in your studio and, until recently, critics were the only way you'd get any feedback.

Great artists are the ones who have put their entire selves out there to be adored, humiliated, to be picked at, cherished, all of those things, and haven't shied away from that.

As a filmmaker, you put the film out there, and you just want it to be okay. You don't want to let people down; you don't want to embarrass yourself.

I struggle to try not to read the press about my album. It was great when the first stuff came out to hear that people liked it, but at the same time at this point it's almost hard for me to read because as much as I'm uncomfortable with my voice, trust me, I'm more uncomfortable with the things I say. [laughs] To see it on a written page, it's like, "Oh my god. I told that guy I'm a hopeless romantic! What am I doing?"

When you're writing something, and you're putting yourself out there, or you're performing and someone comes in and savages that, then of course it feels personal. It doesn't feel like it's just business, because there's no business - it's not like we're conducting business, this anonymous critic and I. It's just that this person is tearing me a new asshole.

Every time I do something or release something or announce a new project, there's always that fear that it won't go well.

Every time I put myself out there, I get rejected.

If I've learned anything, it's that you can't take anything for granted.

I knew that if I just came out as a singer, people would just be criticizing my voice.

You don't want to let people down, and that's so hard because you're never going to please everybody. There's always going to be someone that's a naysayer.

I was very afraid of failure because if you fail at something you love, then you ruin what you love.

I know first-hand what it's like to be judged and to have someone criticise your creativity, your hard work and your art.

It's so easy for all the success in the world to suddenly end, and I'm quite aware of that.

I feel like every single time I've published a book, there's some little light in me that goes out. I've seen the way people can misunderstand or misinterpret things, if not maliciously, then without a lot of sensitivity.

I hate negativity in general. We, as artists, we pour so much into our music and put out something we believe in... it sucks that people tear you down.

I just spent five, six years sacrificing so much to try and fit into that one ideal, that one small standard, and I was never good enough. And it was just frustration that turned into motivation... That became my ammunition, all the people that told me I couldn't.

Teams passed on me, that happens.

When you work on a passion project, there's always the chance that you'll get your heart broken.

I hope to write someday and that’s even more terrifying than performing. You don’t just entertain the audience, you give them little bits of your soul.

Whenever I publish a book, I feel like a trapper caught by the Iroquois. They're all lined up with Tomahawks, and the idea is to run through with your head down, and everybody gets to take a swing. They hit you in the head, the back, the ass, and the balls.

But risk is just part of relationships. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Make no mistake about it, you are dumb. You’re a group of incredibly well-educated dumb people. I was there. We all were there. You’re barely functional. There are some screw-ups headed your way. I wish I could tell you that there was a trick to avoiding the screw-ups, but the screw-ups, they’re a-coming for ya. It’s a combination of life being unpredictable, and you being super dumb.

What if I fall?', Tim cried. Maerlyn laughed. 'Sooner or later, we all do.