I have nothing to declare except my genius.

Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

My life is not to be somebody else’s impact – you know what I mean?

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

I was ready to quit music. It felt to me like music equalled death.

I don’t think I’d ever apologise for music I make, no.

This administration here and now declares unconditional war on poverty.

My fat never made me less money.

A person standing in front of an audience without enthusiasm for his subject and his actions is disconnected from his spirit.

No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they’re pretty, even if they aren’t.

I can express myself.

I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.

Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.

Bragging just sounds good, man.

I still derive immense pleasure from remembering how many hod-carrying brickies were encouraged to put on lurex tights and mince up and down the high street, having been assured by know-it-alls like me that a smidgen of blusher really attracted the birds.

You have to give others the opportunity to love who you love. If they don’t accept it, it’s their loss.

It is my absolute belief that Indians have unlimited talent. I have no doubt about our capabilities.

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.

I like to feel blonde all over.

I just feel so much more comfortable and confident every game I play.

I realised a little bit to my astonishment that I can give a lecture for a thousand people, and there will be this tumultuous applause, so, you know, I have the feeling well, it can’t be all that bad.

I love women with attitude.

I’m not afraid to write my feelings in songs.

When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.

I think songwriting is the ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens in your life productive.

I am not saying I am the best manager in the world. But I’m quite good.

I’m totally myself.

Genius, when young, is divine.

I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn’t, then why would you say I am.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.

I don’t feel very comfortable defending my fashion except to say that people don’t have to buy it. You do have to consume. You have to live. If you’ve got the money to be able to afford it, then it’s really good to buy something from me, but don’t buy too much.

I’d always tried to resist playing the supervirility thing. I liked showing the vulnerability of age.

I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There’s no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it.

Though she be but little, she is fierce.

I think style is being so comfortable and confident in what you’re wearing. That’s what style is, ‚cause everybody’s got different style.

I know some people might think it odd – unworthy even – for me to have written a cookbook, but I make no apologies. The U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins thought I had demeaned myself by writing poetry for Hallmark Cards, but I am the people’s poet so I write for the people.

I’m not interested in people positioning me next to other artists.

My whole life is a theater piece.

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.

I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject, rather does the person grow to look like his portrait.

Writing is like anything else – the more you do it, the better you get at it, the easier it comes, and the less concerned you’ll be about what’s going to happen to it, where it’s going, what it sounds like, whether it’s right.

I’ve never met a genius. A genius to me is someone who does well at something he hates. Anybody can do well at something he loves – it’s just a question of finding the subject.

I tend not to like an awful lot of what is going out under my name now because it is just all product. Who needs it?

What convinces is conviction. Believe in the argument you’re advancing. If you don’t you’re as good as dead. The other person will sense that something isn’t there, and no chain of reasoning, no matter how logical or elegant or brilliant, will win your case for you.

I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or a fool – and I’m not any of those – to say that I don’t write for the reader. I do. But for the reader who hears, who really will work at it, going behind what I seem to say. So I write for myself and that reader who will pay the dues.

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

It is not so much our friends‘ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.

When I got somethin‘ to say, I’ll say it.

I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.

There’s a reason that I have confidence out there, and it’s about how I prepare for games and for series and seasons and whatnot, so we’ve got to stick with that kind of thought process.

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

One of life’s terrible truths is that women like guys who seem to know what they’re doing.

If I can get my dress on, my weight is under control.

I don’t believe in personal immortality; the only way I expect to have some version of such a thing is through my books.

I knew I was a winner back in the late sixties. I knew I was destined for great things. People will say that kind of thinking is totally immodest. I agree. Modesty is not a word that applies to me in any way – I hope it never will.

I don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice. And if you’re always the new kid, you never get a chance to adapt, so your confidence is just zilch.

And were an epitaph to be my story I’d have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.