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

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it’s all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can’t change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.

My goal is to entertain myself and others.

I don’t want to do free jazz! Because free jazz – which is the musical equivalent of free marketeering – isn’t actually free at all. It’s just constrained by what your muscles can do.

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

When you look at the light bulb above you, you remember Thomas Alva Edison. When the telephone bell rings, you remember Alexander Graham Bell. Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. When you see the blue sky, you think of Sir C.V. Raman.

I think some people would love to be able to make the clothes I make – and of course, I do influence them, but they keep simplifying, and minimalism doesn’t quite work.

Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.

It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.

The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I’m doin‘ now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.

People like Frank Zappa and Bryan Ferry knew we could pick and choose from the history of music, stick things together looking for friction and energy. They were more like playwrights; they invented characters and wrote a life around them.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

One man with courage is a majority.

Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen.

I never think about myself as an artist working in this time. I think about it in macro.

Substitute ‚damn‘ every time you’re inclined to write ‚very‘; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

I knew the second I finished the first record – ‚House Of Balloons‘ – and had all this material leftover that a trilogy would be best.

Fans are my favorite thing in the world. I’ve never been the type of artist who has that line drawn between their friends and their fans. The line’s always been really blurred for me. I’ll hang out with them after the show. I’ll hang out with them before the show. If I see them in the mall, I’ll stand there and talk to them for 10 minutes.

Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.

Cause when you’re sequencing a record, you want the listener to stick with it from beginning to end, and in order to do that, you really have to map out the journey from the first song to the last.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

Many times, we miss out on God’s best because we give up too soon. We don’t realize how close we are to victory.

I made an album I’m very proud of, and that’s about it.

There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we’ve got a system that allows them to do it.

Why did I write? Because I found life unsatisfactory.

Doing graphic novels is cool! It’s fun! You get to write something, and then see it visually page by page, panel by panel, working with the artist, you get to see it fleshed out.

A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.

I just try to write songs that people are going to have a dialogue about.

I grew up writing songs in my room on GarageBand, and I would make the beats just out of layering my vocals over and over again. Very Imogen Heap-inspired.

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.

I use my celebrity status to inspire someone, to give them hope.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

Art is going to make a bigger comeback than ever. That’s the upside to things getting challenging.

I knew I wanted to do something creative. I didn’t think I’d have the luxury of doing something like that, because I didn’t know anyone who had pursued anything they really adored, but I had dreams for singing or writing.

What makes life dreary is the want of a motive.

I enjoy all forms of music – pop, classical and opera.

There are alway going to be bad things. But you can write it down and make a song out of it.

Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.

Punk was defined by an attitude rather than a musical style.

If I was just a fan of music, I would think that I was the number one artist in the world.

I used to consider the listener. But now I’m in a space where, if I’m not inspired, I can’t really do the music. I can’t feel it.

We moved into the back, made it into a little 50s sitting room and started to sell the records. We had an immediate success. For one thing, these Teddy Boys were thrilled to buy the records.

Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.

We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

Rap was more of a release for me, a journal.

I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.

I learned how important it is to entertain people and give them a reason to come and watch you play.

Aim for the highest.

What is Apple, after all? Apple is about people who think ‚outside the box,‘ people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference, and not just to get a job done.

If you hear a voice within you say ‚you cannot paint,‘ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.

I can get where some scientists would say comedians are crazy. What you have to understand: A lot of comedians are dealing with a dark passion. A lot of these are guys coming from a tumultuous life, including myself. Some people need outlets, a way to express yourself.

Like any creative human being, I would like a bit more control so that it would be a little easier for me when the director says, ‚One tear, right now,‘ that one tear would pop out.