Quotes from John Grant

I felt like a failure for so long because I wasn't able to access myself in the way I knew I would have if I was going to make music that mattered. I knew I was going to have to learn how to be honest.

The rejection I received when I was young for being a homosexual... that's nothing compared to the number you do on yourself when you've been taught that you are not a human like other people.

For me, every single thing I do seems to be about the process of letting go because that's what I so desperately need to do with so many things: with fear, with what people think of me, and all these things I've worried about my whole life.

I think I have a great voice, but it's not special enough to be remembered. But what's special about me is much more than just my voice.

I had never considered myself a political guy, but there are certain things I can't shut up about. When I hear people say things like, 'If 'we' allow gays to marry, then people will want to marry animals and children,' I can't just stand there.

In order to not have to deal with being gay in the world, you have to control everything. You try and walk in an un-gay way so as not to be found out. You try to control every situation, check the people around you, that you're not in the wrong place, and that can be exhausting. It goes on for decades, and it becomes mental sickness.

It's always been my goal to have backing singers.

Part of what I do, after feeling invisible for a long time, is make an effort not to be invisible any more.

I'm angry because I was so scared for so many years about just being myself.

I'm not saying that I don't have skills. I'm saying I don't feel like I can use my skills to achieve self-esteem. I feel like it's cheating. I think that I should have self-esteem simply because I am a human being who deserves love and deserves everything just as much or just as little as everyone else.

The lead character in 'Adaptation' is pretty much me but with more talent. Every time I watch 'Adaptation,' I feel very emotional because it makes me be kinder to myself and see the human situation a little more clearly.

I still deal with triggers and neuroses that I've developed over the decades. But I do think I have a great amount of compassion for people who feel that they don't fit in, or people who feel they have trouble finding their place in this world.

I know I'm likeable, but living with me is different. Yes, I can be charming. That desire to please people and learning what to do to charm their socks off is something many of us do. But you get into a relationship, and the party's over at some point. They see the real you.

I'm not a big punk fan, but I love a good, solid screamer.

I love a lot of different styles, but my heart belongs in electronic music.

I can only live in the world of truth, inasmuch as I'm able to be truthful with myself at any given point, on any given day.

I believe humans have a soul that continues to exist after they die, but I don't know what form that will take.

Reykjavik has a mixture of southern and northern mentality. There's a laid-back, relaxed attitude but also the feeling things are going to get done.

The first 20 years had such a profound effect on me, I spent the next 20 dealing with them.

I spend a lot of my time just looking at words and grammar and writing things down that I don't know.

That inner narrative - the desire to understand the way I am - never really switches off.

I feel uncomfortable when I think about my father listening to my records, because I don't want to hurt him.

In my family, I was loved, but only if I would fight this gay thing and not let it take over me. I would be loved unconditionally if I could be cured of my 'sickness,' but it certainly would not be OK if I couldn't.

I've kept most of my friends for decades, and I continue to make new friends.