I guess you could say I devoted myself so strongly to my music that for awhile I forgot about my family. But I only get one set of parents, and I think I forgot about that for a little while.

To be able to throw one’s self away for the sake of a moment, to be able to sacrifice years for a woman’s smile – that is happiness.

‚Kiss Land‘ wasn’t about what people wanted to hear on the radio. It was the state of mind I was in – introverted, like David Cronenberg’s ‚Naked Lunch.‘ You didn’t know if you were hearing a chorus or a verse. It was just my thoughts.

I delayed my father’s funeral because of cricket.

I did stand-up for my grandparents every day when I was, like, eight.

In music the passions enjoy themselves.

When I’m writing a record, I kind of don’t listen to much music. Just because I want to be inspired solely on the emotion; just based on how it feels.

It is rather for us here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.

People are always coming up to me and saying, ‚I heard your dad’s speech, and it’s really great.‘ And they’ll mention some place I didn’t even know my dad was going to.

I’ve never thought about songwriting as a weapon. I’ve only thought about it as a way to help me get through love and loss and sadness and loneliness and growing up.

I feel 80% of my life is completely normal.

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.

My friends ask me if I want more kids, and I always say yes, I want more; it’s the best thing you can have in your life.

My father opened a restaurant. It’s so amazing… it’s so freaking delicious, but I’m telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there.

I think what made it difficult for people to get, and still makes it difficult for people to get, is the theatrical nature of the work and the fact that, my music doesn’t exist without the performance-art element.

Train up a child in the way that he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I love our daughters more than anything in the world – more than life itself. And while that may not be the first thing that some folks want to hear from an Ivy-league-educated lawyer, it is truly who I am. So for me, being Mom-in-Chief is, and always will be, job number one.

Music belongs to the people. To no one else. To no one else.

I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. But women when they love give everything.

We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. The teaching of the church is clear, and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.

I could sing you a thousand and one doo-wop songs. I love the simplicity in that music. It’s not super-poetic, it’s just from the heart.

My husband and I had to raise five of my younger brothers and sisters. They lived with us. We sent them to school.

I am just happy to be part of the Nike family.

A letdown is worth a few songs. A heartbreak is worth a few albums.

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

I always use the same guitar; I got this guitar years and years ago for nine pounds. It’s still got the same strings on it.

If I’m gonna write songs about my exes, they can write songs about me. That’s how it works.

I always loved that old song ‚Banks of the Ohio‘ – it was always such a man’s song, so I’ve always wanted to record it.

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

My music is a luxury.

Lyrics are the only thing to do with music that haven’t been made easier technically.

When I listen to music these days, and I hear Pro Tools and drums that sound like a machine – it kinda sucks the life out of music.

For some reason, I’m really comfortable talking about my personal life in songs.

At the end of the day, who I really and truly am is a little girl who loved to play the piano.

I mean, families are weird.

And I saw the sax line-up that he had behind him and I thought, I’m going to learn the saxophone. When I grow up, I’m going to play in his band. So I sort of persuaded my dad to get me a kind of a plastic saxophone on the hire purchase plan.

My mom, she was a very, very soft woman. It was hard for her to yell or even curse. But when it came to fighting for her kids, she found a strength she didn’t always know she had.

Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).

One of the benefits of playing to small audiences in small clubs for a few years is that you’re allowed to fail.

Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.

If you play an instrument, it makes you a better singer. The more you play, the better you sing, the more you sing, the better you play.

I want to – more than anything – to create a moment that people will never forget. Not for me, but for themselves. That’s what I remember about great Super Bowl performances in the past, when you really get lost in the moment with your family.

From the moment I started writing raps, I was always aware of the pressure. I always wanted to live up to how huge Snoop got, how huge Dre got, how huge Pac got. I was always aware.

All my momma’s people were very musical. My grandpa, who was the Pentecostal minister, he was a great musician. He played the fiddle, he played the piano.

I’m a huge fan of R. Kelly’s. He’s a musical genius and probably the most prolific artist of the generation before mine.

The only thing I have to go by is what my mother and father told me, how I was brought up.

My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa, even though everyone else did because we didn’t have any money, because Africa was the ‚dark continent‘, and because I was a girl.

I wanted to be famous for my music and my talent, and I always wished I could cut it out when I left the stage.

Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.

I’m gonna go hard no matter what because I gotta feed my family, and I gotta feed myself.

One has children in the expectation of dying before them. In fact, you want to make damn sure you die before them, just as you plant a tree or build a house knowing, hoping that it will outlive you. That’s how the human species has done as well as it has.

My brother Bob doesn’t want to be in government – he promised Dad he’d go straight.

It’s insane that, since the Beatles and Dylan, it’s assumed that all musicians should do everything themselves. It’s that ridiculous, teenage idea that when Mick Jagger sings, he’s telling you something about his own life. It’s so arrogant to think that people would want to know about it anyway!

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

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.

My mom is American, so I was raised in her household in my formative years.

I just love Bowie. I think he’s the ultimate inventor.

I wanted to prove the sustaining power of music.

I think Mozart’s operas ‚The Marriage of Figaro‘ and ‚Don Giovanni‘ are the two most perfect ever written. The music is magical.

I’ve rarely seen video screens used well in a music concert.

You think I’m going to ask these sweet 14 year olds to ask their parents to buy a $100 ticket then run around in latex and lip sync? No way.