If I’d had good discipline, I might have gone into music.

If you’re not very clever you should be conciliatory.

It is one thing to record an album but it’s a huge difference when people play it and listen to it and embrace it the way that I do. It has always been my dream to get my music out to the world and have people hear it.

Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression.

Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

You can’t imagine parlor ballads drifting out of high-rise multi-towered buildings. That kind of music existed in a more timeless state of life.

You know how you either grow up in a Michael Jackson house or a Prince house? For me it was Michael Jackson. I could never decide whether I wanted to be Michael Jackson or marry him.

Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.

One element of Madonna’s career that really takes center stage is how many times she’s reinvented herself. It’s easier to stay in one look, one comfort zone, one musical style. It’s inspiring to see someone whose only predictable quality is being unpredictable.

I love Wiz Khalifa.

The mixed martial arts way of life will give you focus.

Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.

Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

Sitting on a bedroom floor crying is something that makes you feel really alone. If someone’s singing about that feeling, you feel bonded to that person.

The point about melody and beat and lyric is that they exist to engage you in a very particular way. They want to occupy your attention.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

Life can be boring unless you put some effort into it.

The pleasure of work is open to anyone who can develop some specialised skill, provided that he can get satisfaction from the exercise of his skill without demanding universal applause.

If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?

To see the right and not to do it is cowardice.

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough in me to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.

I have always enjoyed watching my songs make people cry.

Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends.

There are phases in life which surface at times, and it makes you understand that despite you working hard, everything what you are doing is probably not enough. That’s when you need to look around, and beyond.

I feel connected to my generation through the music, but I also fear for us. We’re in a very self-destructive state where we’re addicted to outside opinions and we all feel like we have fans.

I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.

Music was an experience, intimately married to your life. You could pay to hear music, but after you did, it was over, gone – a memory.

I can’t deny that label-support gave me a leg up – though not every successful artist needs it.

I spent most of the early years of my walk with God focused on what was wrong with me. Most of us probably do that, hoping to change ourselves.

A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone.

The thing that makes my clothes really different is that, number one, they are really great designs; they’re not tacky; they are very professional; the design is made from lots of decisions.

The man who has done his level best… is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure.

I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.

I’ve never been a hands-on dad. I’m not ashamed to admit it, but you can’t run a restaurant and be home for tea at 4:30 and bath and change nappies.

Eight years involved with the nuclear industry have taught me that when nothing can possible go wrong and every avenue has been covered, then is the time to buy a house on the next continent.

The reason I became 297 pounds is because that was comfortable. What was very uncomfortable was running. What was very uncomfortable was being on a diet. What was very uncomfortable was trying to face things that I didn’t want to face. And I also realized, when I was really big, I had no growth. Why? Because I was living comfortable.

I just wanted to be a songwriter. I did really not like the sound of my own voice.

I kinda like the idea of having an album that’s all me.

You were not created to just get by with an average, unrewarding, or unfulfilling life. God created you to leave your mark on this generation.

I try to teach my heart not to want things it can’t have.

Never complain. Never explain.

When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet in his private heart no man much respects himself.

Music can change the world because it can change people.

It’s not fun to get out of bed early in the morning. When the alarm goes off, it doesn’t sing you a song: it hits you in the head with a baseball bat. So how do you respond to that? Do you crawl underneath your covers and hide? Or do you get up, get aggressive, and attack the day?

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

As pessimistic as I am about the nature of human beings and our capacity for atrocity and malevolence and betrayal and laziness and inertia, and all those things, I think we can transcend all that and set things straight.

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.

I was a journeyman chef of middling abilities. Whatever authority I have as a commenter on this world comes from the sheer weight of 28 years in the business. I kicked around for 28 years and came out the other end alive and able to form a sentence.

Lyrics are always misleading because they make people think that that’s what the music is about.

Let go of offence. Let go of fear. Let go of revenge. Don’t live angry, let go now!

I was always told as a child by my mother that you always have to be impeccable, even when you go to bed.

I grew up on the Beatles; I love Linkin Park and Green Day. I heard hip-hop for the first time at 11 and realized what I was missing.

Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit.