You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.

There's no comfort in the truth, pain is all you'll find.

I still believe that music is one of the greatest gifts that God gave to man.

In the years when HIV was a killer, any parent of an openly gay person was terrified. I knew my mother well enough that she would spend every day praying that I didn't come across that virus. She'd have worried like that.

Anybody who fights for human rights or to make this world a better place. Nurses, doctors, teachers: these are the people who deserve the credit these days.

I have never felt any ethnic connection between the Greeks and me other than how hairy I am.

I had very little fear about it, but basically, my straight friends talked me out of it. I think they thought as I was bisexual, there was no need to. But it's amazing how much more complicated it became because I didn't come out in the early days. I often wonder if my career would have taken a different path if I had.

Not many people are really that meticulous with what they do, I suppose, but I'm just a control freak and terribly afraid of failure or regret. I work very hard on these things.

I'm surprised that I've survived my own dysfunction, really.

Celebrity and secrets don't go together. The bastards will get you in the end.

I am a political person, though not with a big P.

The '90s were a bit of a disaster for me in so many ways. On a personal level, I don't think I could have toured. Also, I had some physical problems with my back that are now sorted and I just wasn't in the right state of mind.

I have never thought about my sexuality being right or wrong. To me it has always been a case of finding the right person.

I am really not interested or excited by repeating former successes.

My American gay audience have continued to dance and sing to the music I make in a way that straight Americans haven't. I am grateful to them for that.

It takes so much strength to say to your ego, 'You know what? You're going to keep me lonely, so I have to ignore you.'

I have the audience I deserve. Or at least I have the audience that represents the kind of people that I like.

I think the media is a real demon.

I define my sexuality in terms of the people that I love.

I've achieved what every artist wants, which is that some of their work will outlive them.

The truth is my love life has been a lot more turbulent than I have let on.

If you don't feel you're reaching something new, then don't do it.

Is my body a temple, or is my life a temple? I'm definitely in the latter category, and I think my life has been better since thinking that way.

I have more love, success, and security than I could ever dream of.

The whole business is built on ego, vanity, self-satisfaction, and it's total crap to pretend it's not.

I don't consider Americans bullies, but I do consider the American government bullying.

There are so many things and so many aspects to gay life that I've discovered and so many things to write about. I have a new life, and I have a new take on dance music because of that life.

Everything was going my way. I was happily marching into the history books. Then it all just fell apart.

I never really told my parents that I wanted to be a pop star or anything. They just knew that I was totally obsessed with music. Funnily enough, my father always used to say that he didn't think I could sing.

I realised those things my ego needed - fame and success - were going to make me terribly unhappy. So I wrenched myself away from that. I had to. I had to walk away from America and say goodbye to the biggest part of my career because I knew, otherwise, my demons would get the better of me.

Stars are almost always people that want to make up for their own weaknesses by being loved by the public and I'm no exception to that.

I don't want to look at other people my age in leather. Why would I put it on?

I was brought up when media still kept totally away from violence when it came to children. I don't think it would have made me scared of violence, but I find it repulsive.

I owe my mother who I am, and my father my drive.

I'm not anti-American. I've lived with Kenny, a Texan, for six years.

It's almost required with major artists that there's some duality. And I've got duality everywhere.

It's important to me that I should be free to express myself.

I know that I sound self-satisfied, and I know that I've got an ego, but I don't have an ego problem.

I've never done anything so political before. I've spent years shouting my mouth off about serious issues over dinner tables but never really had the confidence to express my views in a song.

My ego is sated.

The fact I had my father as an adversary was such a powerful tool to work with. I subconsciously fought him to the degree that I drove me to be one of the most successful musician in the world.

I write about my life.

I knew, regardless of anything else, singing in front of an orchestra was going to be inspirational. It would feed me.

In terms of my work, I've never been reticent in terms of defining my sexuality. I write about my life.

I've always been the porky boy in my head.

The media has affected everybody's consciousness much more than most people will admit.

I never minded being thought of as a pop star. People have always thought I wanted to be seen as a serious musician, but I didn't, I just wanted people to know that I was absolutely serious about pop music.

Your political system is actually too democratic. The fact that Americans vote on every bill and proposition can prolong bigotry indefinitely, especially where it is aimed at minority groups.

With pop stars or film stars, we become the object of people's self-definition, as well as the object of sexual definition.

Of course, I want to sell this record - there's no point making it otherwise.