Defense is the thing we can control and bring every night. But I want to be great on both ends.

Everyone sees me as a defensive-minded guy, but both sides of the court are important. If you want to win, you have to be good on both sides.

Some nights, you're tired. But I just like to go out there and help my team win and not let my team down. It's the least I can do.

I've been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I've been recording snippets on my BlackBerry.

I think my mother, more than anyone, knew the importance of inspiration. If it was occurring, you had to use it.

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.

I definitely have a Luddite's approach to what's going on. I find that as I get older, I get stupider.

For me, the iPhone is harder than reading Faust.

I think I've done a pretty fantastic job, but of course I want to sell millions of records.

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

You get to a certain age, and you feel the need to reward yourself just for existing.

I want to carve out a serious period of time to focus on the next opera without any distractions. And to do that you need money.

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.

I came out of the closet very young, and I had to cut my teeth pretty fast.

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

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

The thing I hate most is false modesty. The artists who are, like, 'Oh, you know, I'm really not that good. Oh, I can't believe I'm here.' I find it vaguely sinister, even.

I've paid the price; I definitely have a reputation that precedes me, and there is a camp that plots my demise. But then again... it's funner that way.

I'm not born again, I'm not Kabbalah, God forbid, but I did have an experience hitting 30 that I needed to lean on something that assured me that everything is going to be okay. I had to regain a lot of my belief in fairy tales, in happy endings.

I like to sing to Verdi, I like singing to Sibelius, and Mahler maybe.

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.

Unless I have my aunt or my boyfriend to take care of me, I'm a little pathetic.

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.

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

After years of hotels, I'm horribly inept at cleaning up after myself.

I am under no illusion that I will ever be the greatest opera composer in the world, with Wagner and Verdi and Strauss before me. I think my work could fit very nicely into musicals, though.

I definitely try to broaden the scope of music. I don't know if it's pop or classical or what, but I'm religiously challenging myself all the time, for better or for worse.

I wish I could just relax sometimes and make some money, but I always feel like I have to prove some kind of big, profound point.

In retrospect, I'm really shocked at how far I put my heart out there on the line with 'Prima Donna'. I seem to have this knack for being able to accomplish that.

I very much faced my mother's death with hard, arduous and time-consuming labor. The more I would do, the less I would feel.

I have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds, but I can't seem to get to grips with money.

Every video I do is over budget by the time I walk on set. I am massively extravagant in my personal habits.

To me, songs come of their own volition - and with an open-ended philosophy.

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.

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.

Writing an opera and premiering in England, you could say I was going right into the eye of the storm and I came out successfully. A little tattered and bruised, but so what, I made it.

I definitely consider 'Poses' - the whole album in fact - to be kind of a miracle. Like the last breath of that moment when decadence is healthy, 'Poses' encapsulates that feeling. It's a kind of song and a kind of album that I'll never be able to repeat.

For better or worse, I've always been curious musically. Whether it's opera or Judy Garland or pop, I've deliberately sought those things out. I've never wanted to do the same things over and over. Some think I've accomplished what I set out to do, and others consider me a dilettante.

I like to try new things.

The Germany I was enthused with was more old fashioned and kind of romantic. I just got there, and the next thing you know, I had this huge gilded album. It was kind of an amazing experience because I didn't intend it to be that way.

I have a good face for what I do.

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.

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

When it comes to sitting down and composing, there is no hesitation, no concern, no critics breathing fire down my neck. For me, writing a song is the purest part of all. No one can mess with that.

Life is a game and true love is a trophy.

My cheeks explode when I smile. That's why I have to look so nonplussed.

There's no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable.

Being uncool is being pretty much the coolest you can be.

I believe a lot of our lives are spent asleep, and what I've been trying to do is hold on to those moments when a little spark cuts through the fog and nudges you.

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.