Confidence, as a teenager? Because I knew what I loved. I loved to read; I loved to listen to music; and I loved cats. Those three things. So, even though I was an only kid, I could be happy because I knew what I loved.

I’m not comparing myself with anyone, but I am very confident about my captaincy, as I have already led India and in the IPL also. I have confidence I can bring out each player’s ability fully and also give them a lot of confidence… I would like to stick to what I know best and what I have confidence in.

The Heads were the only band on that scene that had a groove.

When you face a ‚performance‘ that might provoke the ‚I’m scared‘ response, choose love and approach your opportunity as a chance to dance with God. It’s more fun than ‚Dancing with the Stars!‘

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.

The problem with writing a book in verse is, to be successful, it has to sound like you knocked it off on a rainy Friday afternoon. It has to sound easy. When you can do it, it helps tremendously because it’s a thing that forces kids to read on. You have this unconsummated feeling if you stop.

I was always very curious as a young man about why older writers who I met seemed so indifferent to what was going on, whereas I, in my 20s, was reading everything. Everything seemed important. But they were only interested in the writers they admired when they were young, and I didn’t understand it then, but now, now I understand it.

For me, it’s enough that I have the first and last word.

No poet or orator has ever existed who believed there was any better than himself.

Mum had done everything you need to educate a kid. She made me a kid who likes books and she told me about ‚Wind in the Willows‘ and read it and I thought this is weird, Rat, Mole, Toad and my first ever Bolshie thought – you know about ‚The Wind in the Willows.‘

If you were the President of the United States or the Queen of England – you couldn’t have a person who would be more protective than my mother was for me. Which meant really that I could dare to do all sorts of things.

I love the ending of a movie where two people end up together. Preferably if there’s rain and an airport or running or a confession of love.

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

Where I come from it was really unheard of to be at a party and someone says, ‚What kind of music do you make?‘, and you say, ‚Pop music.‘ You may as well have ‚I’m not cool‘ stamped on your forehead.

I like to combine the dramatic emotional warmth of strings with the grooves and body business of drums and bass.

How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.

Single life is so overrated.

I like my body when it is with your body. It is so quite new a thing. Muscles better and nerves more.

Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside.

People say I look so happy – and I say, ‚That’s the Botox.‘

I feel matured in a way that I’m happy about. I’m at this other stage in my life – and it’s not a bad thing at all.

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

So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.

Though lovers be lost, love shall not.

I am criticised for not celebrating my goals enough. I am very happy from within, very calm. I just don’t celebrate. I celebrate inside.

You know, T can stand for anything. T stand for working hard. T stand for loving thy neighbor. T stand for feeding the hungry. T stand for just working, working, working, being happy on the set, you know, lifting everybody’s spirits. T stands for just a nice guy.

To love one that is great, is almost to be great one’s self.

Human beings love poetry. They don’t even know it sometimes… whether they’re the songs of Bono, or the songs of Justin Bieber… they’re listening to poetry.

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.

I’ve always loved black culture; I don’t know any other way to put it. Since I was a kid I loved music and early jazz, Sly and the Family Stone. I’m older – I’m in my early 50s – so you’ll have to excuse me. That was always very exciting to me to connect to the culture on that level.

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.

Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalised.

Sometimes I do need to go to karaoke, sometimes I need to relax.

Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.

I would say that jazz is my own language.

I get a more passionate delivery when I just go in the booth and let the music talk.

Books are alive, you see. They’re not dead, they’re alive.

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

This is the thing about hip-hop music and where people get it most misconstrued: It’s all hip-hop. You can’t say that just what I do is hip-hop, because hip-hop is all energies. James Brown can get on the track and mumble all day. But guess what? You felt his soul on those records.

May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air.

To love is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.

When I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn’t even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.

I’d love it if everyone knew one Foo Fighters song.

I’m a romantic; a sentimental person thinks things will last, a romantic person hopes against hope that they won’t.

A good laugh is sunshine in the house.

I love singing. I love it, and it doesn’t feel like a chore. It’s an expression.

Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can be sure of being admired when they are not admirable, and praised when they are not praiseworthy.

I love women with attitude.

A laugh, to be joyous, must flow from a joyous heart, for without kindness, there can be no true joy.

Love in its essence is spiritual fire.

Your feelings so are important to write down, to capture, and to remember because today you’re heartbroken, but tomorrow you’ll be in love again.

If I am not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.

Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys.

The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.

Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.

I read the Bible to myself; I’ll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is.

I really appreciate the moments that I was able to win rap album of the year or whatever.

Happiness doesn’t come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man.

I just want to keep writing music.