I have to write because if I don’t get something down then after a while I feel it’s going to bang the side of my head off.

I think my biggest musical hero growing up was probably Ian MacKaye. He set a great example for all of us local musicians. Still, to this day, I see him as the best example of a right-on musician.

If you start by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work towards getting it.

I wake up in the morning and my mind starts making sentences, and I have to get rid of them fast – talk them or write them down.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

My lyrics are generated by various peculiar processes. Very random and similar to automatic writing.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

If you choose to do something, attack it. You can hate me, but there’s one thing you can’t say about me – that I didn’t attack it.

Kitty Wells was the first and only Queen of Country Music, no matter what they call the rest of us. She was a great inspiration to me as well as every other female singer in the country music business. In addition to being a wonderful asset to country music, she was a wonderful woman.

I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few.

The presence of passion within you is the greatest gift you can receive. Treat it as a miracle.

The sun is gone, but I have a light.

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

Success is steady progress toward one’s personal goals.

I’ve learned over the years that when I go to that place of passion within me, there’s no force in the universe that can interfere with my completing a project.

When I was a teenager, I thought how great it would be if only I could write novels in English. I had the feeling that I would be able to express my emotions so much more directly than if I wrote in Japanese.

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.

Anytime someone tells me that I can’t do something, I want to do it more.

You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life of peace, you inspire hope for a future of peace.

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.

I had a good time boxing. I enjoyed it – and I may come back.

When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band – or at least in a Pixies cover band.

A lot of dreams can turn to nightmares… if you don’t really work them.

Idleness is the parent of psychology.

We must not sit still and look for miracles; up and doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything.

I want the world to see my body.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it.

Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.

I’m a pretty decent writer. It comes easy to me. I don’t agonize over sentences. I write like I talk. I try to make them good books.

Americans never quit.

If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.

The thing about fantasy – there are certain things you just don’t do in fantasy.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.

Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.

Let each become all that he was created capable of being.

Brevity is a great charm of eloquence.

Bravery never goes out of fashion.

I always believe that there should come a time when your energy, speed, stamina should combine well with your brains.

I ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.

It could be if I fight in front of one person or one million people. It’s still the same emotions.

My stories run up and bite me on the leg – I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.

Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn’t come alive until the leader models it.

In all my work, I try to say – ‚You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?‘

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

It isn’t sufficient just to want – you’ve got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

I enjoy singing my songs in front of people. I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that.

I didn’t work hard to sit down and not work.

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.

The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.