Rufus Quotes

I'll be honest, I worry sometimes about what I've done. I have tied my whole person to my art and, whatever it takes to get that hook, I will go there and do it. ~ Rufus Wainwright

In the music business, to survive for so long, you have to be able to cut off from your emotions sometimes. And being a father, you're faced with that situation. I know that my father was, with me. I understand why he had to be distant, because to rip yourself away, time after time, is almost more devastating. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I 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 Wainwright

I want to be able to do anything. I know it's probably not reasonable to expect, but that's what I'd like to do. ~ Rufus Sewell

I'm very fit on tour. I try to eat well, try to sleep. But it's still rock n' roll. ~ Rufus Wainwright

wealth is able to buy the pleasures of eating, drinking and other sensual pursuits-yet can never afford a cheerful spirit or freedom from sorrow. ~ Musonius Rufus

It's great to hear someone really care for the soprano saxophone. ~ Rufus Reid

I knew I was gay when I was around 13. There wasn't the internet, there weren't support groups, AIDS was everywhere. I mean, it was really dark. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love of reading. ~ Rufus Choate

I have a lot of advantages: I'm not addicted to horrifying pills. I also have surrounded myself with far more caring and upright individuals. And I wasn't abused as a child, so I'm doing okay! ~ Rufus Wainwright

You've got to have fun playing. It bothers me when players don't seem to be enjoying themselves, even when they play an incredible improvisation. ~ Rufus Reid

I think the minute you mention death, people run for the hills - unless it's heavy metal. People do not like death. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Once illness strikes, you realize there's not a lot of time for you to do what you really need to do. And there's no time like the present. ~ Rufus Wainwright

< ... > many national leaders including Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay, Gouverneur Morris, and Rufus King saw American slavery as an immense problem, a curse, a blight, or a national disease. If the degree of their revulsion varied, they agreed that the nation would be much safer, purer, happier, and better off without the racial slavery that they had inherited from previous generations and, some of them would emphasize, from England. Most of them also believed that America would be an infinitely better and less complicated place without the African American population, which most white leaders associated with all the defects, mistakes, sins, shortcomings, and animality of an otherwise almost perfect nation. ~ David Brion Davis

I think everybody identified at a pretty young age that I was fairly entranced with myself. And that I had to be tempered. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Opera needs to be a total escape from real life. To relate to what we're going through today is fine and dandy, but it's really about being transported and completely swept away by a romantic notion. ~ Rufus Wainwright

My career has suddenly started to be the one that I'd always wanted, not in terms of level of success, but in terms of - and this is what I've been banging on about - playing different parts in different media. ~ Rufus Sewell

I'd like an omelet named after me. ~ Rufus Sewell

Socializing is as exhausting as giving blood. People assume we loners are misanthropes, just sitting thinking, 'Oh, people are such a bunch of assholes,' but it's really not like that. We just have a smaller tolerance for what it takes to be with others. It means having to perform. I get so tired of communicating. ~ Anneli Rufus

The fashions of human affairs are brief and changeable, and fortune never remains long indulgent.
[Lat., Breves et mutabiles vices rerum sunt, et fortuna nunquam simpliciter indulget.] ~ Quintus Curtius Rufus

Being with the president's daughter, no matter who the president is, you are connected to the most powerful political force on earth, and that's scary. And when you mix crystal meth and alcohol with that, it's ... kind of exciting. A little too exciting. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Rufus? He's a grand kisser, and he's dead sexy. ~ Catherine McCormack

I do not consider myself a guitar player. My father is a guitar player - I'm not. ~ Rufus Wainwright

The courage of New England was the courage of conscience. It did not rise to that insane and awful passion, the love of war for itself. ~ Rufus Choate

A large part of my adolescence was spent doing my very best to draw attention to myself. ~ Rufus Sewell

Madonna created a monster that sucks up souls. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Yes, years of compromise and disappointment have added depth to my acting. ~ Rufus Sewell

Morse code didn't leave a paper trail, or an email thread on the screen of your tablet. She would never be able to scroll back and reread the exchange she'd just had with Rufus. ~ Neal Stephenson

I've always gravitated towards opera, and the Royal Opera House is quite possibly the greatest opera house on earth. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I am undefinable. I don't fit into any particular category. ~ Rufus Wainwright

New York is not the centre for American culture and art that it once was because of the forces of conservatism. Giuliani, capitalism - and then there was 9/11. I really believe that if I leave, it will suffer! Maybe that's why I love it here, because I feel wanted. ~ Rufus Wainwright

In marriage there must be complete companionship and concern for each other on the part of both husband and wife, in health and in sickness and at all times, because they entered upon the marriage for this reason as well as to produce offspring. When such caring for one another is perfect, and the married couple provide it for one another, and each strives to outdo the other, then this is marriage as it ought to be and deserving of emulation, since it is a noble union. But when one partner looks to his own interests alone and neglects the other's, or (by Zeus) the other is so minded that he lives in the same house, but keeps his mind on what is outside it, and does not wish to pull together with his partner or to cooperate, then inevitably the union is destroyed, and although they live together their common interests fare badly, and either they finally get divorced from one another or they continue on in an existence that is worse than loneliness. ~ Musonius Rufus

Rufus Wainwright is my go-to for any kind of emotion. He's got songs for all of it. ~ Drake Bell

You know the question: 'How do you get to Carnegie Hall?' Answer: 'Practise?' Well, in my case, I got there by not practising. I didn't finish my music degree. And when I got into the pop world, I decided not to conform because I figured that the point of being an artist was that you shouldn't be like anyone else. ~ Rufus Wainwright

As an artist, you put so much into what you do and it can all be torn down in a nanosecond. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Begger or rich man, soldier or merchant, Rufus was indestructible, for the man who could laugh at life or death was in the end the only conqueror. ~ Rosemary Anne Sisson

SITTING WITH MY UNNEUTERED BULL MASTIFF RUFUS WATCHING 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS WITH STEREO ERECTIONS. ~ Vince McMahon

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

I really need to know I may just never see you again, or might as well You took advantage of a world that loved you well I'm going to a town that has already been burnt down I'm so tired of you, America. ~ Rufus Wainwright

A diaper is as inspiring as a drink. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I pin my hopes to quiet processes and small circles in which vital and transforming events take place. ~ Rufus Jones

but until then I promise to be the Mario to your Luigi, except I won't hog the spotlight. ~ Adam Silvera

Getting up means leaving," I say.
"Yeah," Rufus says.
"Leaving means dying," I say.
"Nah. Leaving means living before you die. Let's bounce. ~ Adam Silvera

Putting all of my time In learning to care And a bucket of rhymes I threw up somewhere Want a locket of who Made me lose my perfunctory view Of all that is around And of all that I do. ~ Rufus Wainwright

My feelings about my mortality are less selfish than they used to be. I used to affect a cavalier attitude to death; now I see it from my son's perspective. ~ Rufus Sewell

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

I'm definitely a fan of juxtaposition. Using the most beautiful line to say the most horrific thing - I think one of the main things in songwriting is definitely friction between the words and the melody. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Premiering a new opera is probably one of the hardest things in the world to do, and opening nights of any opera are always pretty stressful. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I'm very much a romantic. I'm highly attuned to an older sensibility, which I believe is alive and well. We're not that far ahead of the Romantic Age in society. ~ Rufus Wainwright

In any case, fighting will not settle whether the claims were just or unjust. It will only settle which nation can mobilize and handle its fighting forces and its economic forces the better. ~ Rufus Jones

My parents were serious working musicians, but they were not stars - not like pop stars that you have now. They had to make a living and that meant touring, working hard, going on the road - and we were roped in. ~ Rufus Wainwright

It is often a comfort in misfortune to know our own fate.
[Lat., Saepe calamitas solatium est nosse sortem suam.] ~ Quintus Curtius Rufus

Fire can either burn down your house or warm it. ~ Holly Black

What He really hates is the shit that gets carried out in his name. Wars. Bigotry. Televangelism.

- Rufus, Dogma ~ Kevin Smith

I'm hyper light-sensitive and must sleep in the equivalent of a sealed tomb. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I may not lead the most dramatic life, but in my brain it's 'War and Peace' everyday. ~ Rufus Wainwright

All these poses of classical torture ruined my mind like a snake in the orchard. I did go from wanting to be someone, now I'm drunk and wearing flip-flops on Fifth Avenue. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Well, thing is, after they cancelled 'Zen', I didn't work for eight months. And in that case, it was not my choice. After I've done something that I'm really proud of and I think changes the way I'm perceived, the immediate reaction is: nothing. ~ Rufus Sewell

I bemoan the fact that all my famous friends have places in St. Bart's and I have to go to Montauk. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Life is like a game of chess. To win you have to make a move. Knowing which move to make comes with IN-SIGHT and knowledge, and by learning the lessons that are acculated along the way. We become each and every piece within the game called life! ~ Alan Rufus

Mowing your lawn is against nature. ~ Rufus Wainwright

If you have not clung to a broken piece of your old ship in the dark night of the soul, your faith may not have the sustaining power to carry you through to the end of the journey. ~ Rufus Jones

I'll always be a boulevardier. I have an extreme reverence and romantic longing for all that is decrepit and fatalistic. ~ Rufus Wainwright

But I don't even think you hear me at all Under your medieval ceiling behind your biblical wall ~ Rufus Wainwright

Mathematics may, be briefly defined as the science of quantities, and is one of the most important of disciplining studies which engage the practical student. ~ Rufus Choate

I would love to play with Rufus Wainwright. He's one of my favorite songwriters. ~ Sydney Wayser

If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures ~ Musonius Rufus

I've always believed very, very strongly that the way you treat people is more important than anything, professionally or otherwise. ~ Rufus Sewell

I've gone through long periods without being with someone and got a bit lonely, but not for a while. ~ Rufus Sewell

Your Hands And Feet
Gets Your Mind
To Where It Wants To Be! ~ Allan Rufus

When fear has seized upon the mind, man fears that only which he first began to fear.
[Lat., Ubi intravit animos pavor, id solum metuunt, quod primum formidate coeperunt.] ~ Quintus Curtius Rufus

I don't want to hold you and feel so helpless I don't want to smell you and lose my senses And smile in slow motion With eyes in love. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I 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 Wainwright

I should write a musical. That is probably one of the final areas that I should pay attention to, because it does kind of involve everything. It's got theatre, it's got young, pretty people ... And it's got money! ~ Rufus Wainwright

One of the main destructive forces within our family has been these runaway egos. I think if you look at any show business family, that struggle exists. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Success is about long term relationships which you build on, and it's best to start with having an empowering, positive and uplifting relationship with yourself as a starting point, which is your anchor or keystone to build from! ~ Allan Rufus

Well, my great lesson with that was I went to the same production twice - once completely high and once completely sober - and both times were equally wonderful. ~ Rufus Wainwright

You had to be an over-the-top, demanding, dramatic figure in order to progress as a woman in Europe over the last few hundred years. Now people say, "You're being such a prima donna," meaning you're being hard to deal with or crazy. It's a bit sexist. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Prosperity can change man's nature; and seldom is any one cautious enough to resist the effects of good fortune.
[Lat., Res secundae valent commutare naturam, et raro quisquam erga bona sua satis cautus est.] ~ Quintus Curtius Rufus

As praetor, Cicero was expected to take in promising pupils from good families to study law with him, and in May, after the Senate recess, a new young intern of sixteen joined his chambers. This was Marcus Caelius Rufus from Interamnia, the son of a wealthy banker and prominent election official of the Velina tribe. Cicero agreed, largely as a political favor, to supervise the boy's training ~ Robert Harris

Since every man dies, it is better to die with distinction than to live long. ~ Musonius Rufus

My love of classical hit pretty early. I was 13 when it occurred, and that was really the only music I listened to for many, many years. I went to a conservatory, but I always knew I would be in the pop world, because A) it was more fun and B) you didn't have to practice as much and you could go out more. But I immediately saw this opportunity to inject my material with these sounds that most members of my generation really didn't know about, so it was a great way to differentiate myself from the pack. ~ Rufus Wainwright

Rufus had caused her trouble, and now he had been rewarded for it. It made no sense. No matter how kindly he treated her now that he had destroyed her, it made no sense. ~ Octavia E. Butler

I think my imagination and my passions are still firing away, but it's really the body that starts to make up the rules. It's not a major problem; it's just when you get a little older you realize how much your body thanks you when you are good to it. ~ Rufus Wainwright

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

You don't want a diction gathered from the newspapers, caught from the air, common and unsuggestive; but you want one whose every word is full-freighted with suggestion and association, with beauty and power. ~ Rufus Choate

There must be amidst all the confusions of the hour a tried and undisturbed remnant of persons who will not become purveyors of coercion and violence, who are ready to stand alone, if it is necessary, for the way of peace and love among men. ~ Rufus Jones

Written works do not produce fast reactions as pictures and sculptures and music do. it takes no effort to see or hear. but to read - to grasp what the writer has done - requires commitment. engagement. as is the case with most art, the relationship between the maker and the audience is remote in time and space. the writer is nowhere to be seen when the reader takes up the book, or even dead. but most often, books go unread ... thus the writer, knowing this as writers do, is even more alone ... yet writers write. and knowing what they know makes their isolation almost a sacrament. ~ Anneli Rufus

A cowardly cur barks more fiercely than it bites. ~ Quintus Curtius Rufus

The poetry you could write about Rufus helping me out of my grave isn't lost on me. ~ Adam Silvera

Some of us have spent our whole lives committing suicide. And some of us survived. ~ Anneli Rufus

I have an ounce of Lady Gaga's full-bodied ambition. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I have this horrible, horrible habit of going on YouTube and checking out comments about what I do. ~ Rufus Wainwright

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

I was a very undisciplined person but acting was something that actually motivated me to get up in the morning. I hadn't experienced that before, but it was something that really excited me. I think I could be quite self-conscious and it gave me a release. ~ Rufus Sewell

The mob has no ruler more potent than superstition. ~ Quintus Curtius Rufus

I personally don't have the ability to lie about my life, for better or for worse. ~ Rufus Wainwright

There is actually a great book called Prima Donna by Rupert -Christiansen that deconstructs the myth. In fact, many of the women who were prima donnas were feminists and incredible forces for their time. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I'm not a terrible smoker, actually. My major addiction, which is horrible, is straight boys. ~ Rufus Wainwright

I've written songs for Shirley Bassey, Marianne Faithfull, and Linda Thompson. I sort of focus on these wonderful, aging divas. But maybe that's because I think I'm Christina Aguilera. ~ Rufus Wainwright