I just want to keep pushing the envelope without it feeling forced.

California is not just the Golden State. We are also the Internet State.

The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

I really started writing music to challenge myself, to see what I could write.

I’ve written all my songs on every single one of my records, and that’s what’s been fun about looking back.

Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

Google’s done a super good job on search; Apple’s done a great job on the IPod.

I wanted to write when I was young, but people said it was impossible. Then my parents locked me in a mental institution – they said I was crazy and would never make a living from writing.

My purpose is to make exciting music, and I feel like I’ll be doing that for the rest of my life, so there’s no pressure.

All good art is an indiscretion.

That terrible mood of depression of whether it’s any good or not is what is known as The Artist’s Reward.

Every once in a while, I get mad. ‚The Lorax‘ came out of my being angry. The ecology books I’d read were dull… In ‚The Lorax,‘ I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might.

I seem to turn out stories that violate the discipline of the short story form and don’t obey the rules of progression for novels. I don’t think about a particular form: I think more about fiction, let’s say a chunk of fiction.

In art, at a certain level, there is no ‚better than.‘ It’s just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it.

Arrange whatever pieces come your way.

Never regret what you don’t write.

I can’t usually stomach a project after I finish it, but for those days and weeks and months that it’s new to me, I do listen to it, and it might change over time, but it’s about function.

My songs are like my children – I expect them to support me when I’m old.

An author writes a book, and that’s the book at that point. And if the author writes the book again, then somehow something has gone wrong, if you see what I mean.

The thing that makes my clothes really different is that, number one, they are really great designs; they’re not tacky; they are very professional; the design is made from lots of decisions.

I don’t tell anyone how to write and no one tells me.

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

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

The smart thing in the art world is to have one good idea and never have another.

Any artist, the work you do, if it’s a painting or if it’s a performance, you hope it translates to a common denominator with the people that they see something in their own life in there. Or they see something in somebody else’s life. That’s what’s fun about sharing art.

Everyone I look up to is bringing me into the tech world. You’d be surprised by all the music people in it, invested in it.

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.

As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.

Japan’s very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don’t think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that’s already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor.

I kind of make a film for myself to sort of express myself.

Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.

There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.

Literally wrote ‚Starboy‘ in 30 minutes.

Beautiful sentences pop into my head. Beautiful sentences that aren’t always absolutely accurate. Then, I have to choose between the beautiful sentence and being absolutely accurate. It can be a difficult choice.

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.

What I have is a malevolent curiosity. That’s what drives my need to write and what probably leads me to look at things a little askew. I do tend to take a different perspective from most people.

I don’t care if people think I am an overactor, as long as they enjoy what I do. People who think that would call Van Gogh an overpainter.

I’ve noticed a lot of younger artists have less fear of doing different sorts of things, whether it’s various types of music, or gallery artists moving between video and sculpture and drawing.

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.

This revolution, the information revoultion, is a revolution of free energy as well, but of another kind: free intellectual energy. It’s very crude today, yet our Macintosh computer takes less power than a 100-watt bulb to run it and it can save you hours a day. What will it be able to do ten or 20 years from now, or 50 years from now?

I really do encourage other manufacturers to bring electric cars to market. It’s a good thing, and they need to bring it to market and keep iterating and improving and make better and better electric cars, and that’s what going to result in humanity achieving a sustainable transport future. I wish it was growing faster than it is.

We will explore the mysteries of science and harness the power of technology and innovation. We will realise the opportunities of the digital world. Our youth will learn more from – and with – each other.

What really turns me on about technology is not just the ability to get more songs on MP3 players. The revolution – this revolution – is much bigger than that. I hope, I believe. What turns me on about the digital age, what excites me personally, is that you have closed the gap between dreaming and doing.

Any good piece of material like Shakespeare ought to be open to reinterpretation.

I need drama in my life to keep making music.

Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer. You’re gay, you’re sick, you’re nervous or whatever.

What my character is or how many jails I have lounged in, or wards or walls or wassails, how many lonely-heart poetry readings I have dodged, is beside the point. A man’s soul or lack of it will be evident with what he can carve upon a white sheet of paper.

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

I used to like to set different film clips to classical music, not even my own songs, but make little movies.

Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace.

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.

Getting a great idea with song writing is a lot like love. You don’t know why this one is different, but it is. You don’t know why this one is better, but it is. It sticks in your head, and you can’t stop thinking about it.

A musician should only sound like what they do, and no two musicians sound the same. It’s an individual-feel thing, you know?

I write songs that are like diary entries. I have to do it in order to feel sane.

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.

Think off-center.

Young people can create beautiful things.