Conchita Wurst

“Expectations are dangerous. I recommend not having any, if only to avoid disappointment.”

“I'm just a singer in a fabulous dress, with great hair and a beard.”

“I want to show the world that if you want to be a bearded lady you are allowed to do it without being discriminated against.”

“When I'm standing in front of all those lawmakers in the European Parliament, then I'm a speaker, when I'm singing, I'm a singer. If I'm on the catwalk, then I'm being a model. That can all happen in one week or even on the same day.”

“It's easy to say, 'This is just a joke.' You know, the bearded lady? And I feel the need to smash it with every performance just because I want to be clear this is not a joke.”

“I am happy being a man in a dress. Some people get confused and think I'm a trans woman, but I'm strict about the difference. What I do is performance, it's staged, it's glamour - it's not real life. But for trans people, being born in the wrong body - there's nothing glamorous or easy about that.”

“I'd done drag since I was 14, for special occasions, and in 2010 a friend of mine with her own burlesque group was looking for a host. During a party I was just fooling around, taking the microphone, saying stupid, funny things, and she asked me afterward if I wanted to host her burlesque show every Saturday.”

“Over the years I've realised that there's nothing wrong with me. But there was a long way for me to go to get back to this loud and outgoing kid, and to get to the point where I could say, 'Yeah, I'm gay, so what?'”

“I grew up in a small Austrian village, a quite conservative one, and I was the weird little boy always dressing as a girl.”

“It was shortly before my 18th birthday when I came out and admitted that I was gay.”

“I find it hard to believe when people tell me I inspired them in any kind of way because I think to myself, 'well, why?' It's just me - not Madonna.”

“Winning the Eurovision contest is just a door opener, this is not that you're set for life. Definitely not, don't mistake that, because you really have to work your behind off to sustain in this business.”

“The most important thing will be when we actually stop talking about sexual orientation. The moment we reach that point when that is not important any more, we've reached a big goal which is a long way in front of us.”

“We Europeans really have the picture of this very open-minded Australia.”

“I don't think I have the power to change anybody.”

“From Vienna with Love' will build a bridge across the globe from Vienna to Sydney, full of music, love and fun. I am really looking forward to performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and fabulous guest artists who all have ties to Vienna and telling a story with music that inspired me and songs from my debut album.”

“I was actually a very confident little kid. I would go to kindergarten in a skirt.”