I never wanted to sing. I just wanted to play rhythm guitar – hide in the back and just play.

You get to a point where it’s like you can’t really do anything right, and people will pick on you for whatever decisions you make, so I just try and take no notice and get on with my music.

There is a sort of jealousy which needs very little fire; it is hardly a passion, but a blight bred in the cloudy, damp despondency of uneasy egoism.

People are used to music that justifies street culture but something that’s not touched on is why these kids act the way they act, live the way they live.

The intensity of the football and how the people live football in Liverpool – it is not a usual.

Yes, the Bible should be taught in our schools because it is necessary to understand the Bible if we are to truly understand our own culture and how it came to be. The Bible has influenced every part of western culture from our art, music, and history, to our sense of fairness, charity, and business.

I listen to music that is of our time and I just get angry.

I am an introvert; privately I am very shy, and I don’t speak unless I have to.

I’m sure everyone knows now that only a few have performed in Madison Square Garden. That list is so small. Now I’m on that list. I’m a part of a very small group, which is unbelievable. You relish in that moment for a second.

I play piano every day. I enjoy that.

I know a lot of artists say this, but it’s hard to put myself in a box. I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming form a special place. There’s no tricks.

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.

My music definitely comes from a place of experience. Everything connects to a truth.

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

It’s almost schizophrenic who I portray in my music.

I’m a songwriter. Everything affects me.

In Puerto Rico we dance to everything.

I really love training and being in good shape, and it’s so much a part of my life now, so it never really feels like work to me.

Where would I be without baseball? Who am I without baseball?

Any artist, the work you do, if it’s a painting or if it’s a performance, you hope it translates to a common denominator with the people that they see something in their own life in there. Or they see something in somebody else’s life. That’s what’s fun about sharing art.

For me, the way I stay consistent is through stand-up comedy.

Songs don’t have to be about going out on Saturday night and having a good rink-up and driving home and crashing cars. A lot of what I’ve done is about alienation… about where you fit in society.

Metal, I love metal sounds. If I have a stick with me, I just drag it across a fence. And all fences make different sounds, just like people when they laugh.

I hate talking about music, to tell you the truth.

I just have a thing in my brain that when I’m about to do something that’s genuine or authentic, I think of it in song form. I’ll be like, ‚Yo, this is a human emotion that no one talks about.‘

I play a lot of instruments. I write all my own music. I spend hours and hours a day in the studio. I’m a producer. I’m a writer.

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.

It doesn’t matter if you want to be a teacher, an astronaut, or a reggaeton singer, you need to study.

Here’s the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else.

As a musician and a songwriter, it is an act of the ego to believe that other people might be interested in your point of view. But it is usually an empathetic nature that gets you going in the first place. Music keeps the heart porous in many ways.

Usually, when Nirvana made music, there wasn’t a lot of conversation. We wanted everything to be surreal. We didn’t want to have some contrived composition.

I’ve started doing book reviews for Barnes & Noble! They saw that I did a lot of book reviews on the site, and they figured that it might not be a bad thing if they got me to do some for them as well. I gave them five categories I’d be interested in reviewing, from art to fiction to music.

I’ve always been a singer. I never really decided I was gonna be a singer. It just kind of – I just sung a lot.

I don’t think anyone ever plans to change line-ups, but it’s something that comes with being in bands. I was in a band once and there were always problems – members come and go – and some of the world’s biggest bands have changed line-ups loads!

The album requires a certain focus of mine that I can’t really explain – let’s just say it’s all I can really do while I’m doing it.

Whenever I make music, it reflects where I’m at mentally.

Music in itself carries a whole set of messages which are very, very rich and complex, and the words either serve to exclude certain ones or point up certain others.

My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.

When you’re in comedy, people always come up and say, ‚Oh, it must be so hard.‘ It really isn’t hard unless you’re not good at it. If you can do it, its really kind of fun and easy.

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

I love story songs because I’ve always loved books.

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

There is spontaneity to my work.

I’d like to do a completely off-the-wall collaboration. I would like one of my songs to be the hook to a rap song. That would be so much fun!

I like having my hands in the clay. I like the movie-making process.

When I’m really interested in something, I get superfocused on that. And I can spend hours upon hours not getting tired of reading about it and still be interested to learn more about it.

I want my fans to love themselves. It’s almost like I want to hypnotize them so when they hear my music they love themselves instantly.

No man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like.

I think, generally, I just cannot really envision life without writing and producing records and singing.

The jazz I love is sweet and pure with raw elements, which is exactly what the good hip-hop is doing now.

I always loved advertising. If I hadn’t been in fashion, I’d have been in advertising.

But when I hear a great song, I can’t help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.

I get really motivated when I put on the India jersey. It is a responsibility, so I want to perform in the best way I can.

It’s easy to make an album full of great songs. But I want people to go for the ride. The songs have to make sense together.

So many girls come up and say to me, ‚I have never listened to country music in my life. I didn’t even know my town had a country-music station. Then I got your record, and now I’m obsessed.‘ That’s the coolest compliment to me.

I’m pretty sure in my older years, I’ll be doing old-time flavored folk-mountain music.

Music is one of the most powerful things the world has to offer. No matter what race or religion or nationality or sexual orientation or gender that you are, it has the power to unite us.

People haven’t always been there for me, but music always has.

When I am playing baseball, I give it all that I have on the ball field. When the ball game is over, I certainly don’t take it home. My little girl who is sitting out there wouldn’t know the difference between a third strike and a foul ball. We don’t talk about baseball at home.

I was always interested – I mean, it’s kind of part of your job – I was always interested in the camera.

I mean, what would I be doing if I couldn’t write? But that fortunately hasn’t proved to be the case and I can read any day. I still read a lot, and I can write any day, but much more slowly and fewer words.