Quotes from Florence Welch

My mum wanted me to go to university.

I am obsessed with the whole Victoriana thing, the whole Jack the Ripper London era, the grayness of it, the haunted feeling of it, all ancient and bloody.

I've learned not to hide behind a veil of irony - to talk about my work in a more honest way.

I was having a conversation with my father and he was talking about this thing - strangeness and charm. It's actually the name of the two smallest particles that there are when you split the atom, so I wrote a song around it. I even managed to fit the word 'hydrogen' in there. Isn't that a nice thing for scientists to call them though?

I look really odd in jeans and a hoodie - it doesn't feel or seem right.

I'm just a black hole for stuff. No one should ever hand me anything, because I get so easily distracted. I'll be like, 'Oh, look, something shiny!' I'm glad I never learned how to drive. I would be really dangerous.

I like to wear clothes that I will wear when I am an old lady.

The Teenage Cancer Trust does incredible work supporting and caring for teenagers and young adults with cancer, and it's a cause that is really close to me and my family.

I think I've always looked older than I am. I hope that's going to work in my favor when I get older.

I definitely have a real self-destructive streak.

My siblings and I were friends with the boys who would become our stepbrothers - we grew up on the same street. I feel very special to have these amazing people in my life and if we hadn't all moved into this big house together I think I would have missed out on that, because we would have drifted apart.

I've always been a bit of a decorator. I think if I wasn't a singer I'd probably be in stage setting or interior design or something. I like clutter and I'm quite visually greedy. I can't have things to be plain; I have to have things looking interesting... maybe I'm just a frustrated interior designer stuck in a singing career.

My style of playing is more enthusiasm and instinct than skill.

It's very flattering when you look into the crowd and people have made an effort and dressed in your style.

I've always been able to just concoct a melody quite easily - it's just kind of instinct, really. You've got to channel your subconscious.

I try to write lyrics so that they won't age, which sort of leaves you with the big subjects like death and love and sex and violence.

Going to parties usually makes me feel depressed, just because I have such social fear after meeting people.

For me, 'Dog Days' symbolizes apocalyptic euphoria, chaotic freedom and running really, really fast with your eyes closed.

All the words are already there when you're singing onstage, it's fantastic. You can lose yourself in what you've created. You're controlling this freedom.