I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I’m conscious of the mainstream without selling out.

It’s hard to practice compassion when we’re struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance.

I’ve made over 25 studio albums, and I think probably I’ve made two real stinkers in my time, and some not-bad albums, and some really good albums. I’m proud of what I’ve done. In fact it’s been a good ride.

My goal in music is to create nostalgic moments.

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.

There is only one failure in life possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows.

There are certain sounds that I’ve found work well in nearly any context. Their function is not so much musical as spatial: they define the edges of the territory of the music.

I don’t want to be fake. I’m just being me. And I have the power to break stereotypes and whatever useless rules that society puts on us.

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

The mainstream is always under attack.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

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

My writing is jagged and harsh, I want it to remain that way; I don’t want it smoothed out.

If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.

I have a very eclectic iPod. So I’ve got my cardio people – so it’s anything from Beyonce to some Jay-Z to Janelle Monae, her song ‚Tightrope,‘ that’s a good cardio song. And then I’ve got Sting. I’ve got Mary J. Blige. I’ve got The Beatles. I’ve got Michael Jackson. I try to pick the songs that I personally love.

Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.

I try to not focus on what people expect from me.

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.

Music fills in for words a lot of the time when people don’t know what to say, and I think music can be more eloquent than words.

I always use Michael as, first and foremost, a vocal inspiration, and ‚Off the Wall‘ was definitely the one that made me feel like I could sing.

I never could get over the fact that The Pixies formed, worked and separated without America taking them to its heart or even recognizing their existence for the most part.

I don’t know who I touch and who I don’t. I work hard trying to make people laugh. I try to do the kind of stuff that made me laugh growing up. I don’t have any secrets. I don’t know the reasons I’ve been so well received.

I didn’t try to copy my dad or fit into the pressure or the mold that everybody tried to make me fit into.

I’m always cast in these strange men… that’s not me, really.

The age of a woman doesn’t mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.

I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I’m not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does.

You’re not going to scare me into being somebody I don’t want to be.

I want to thank The Beatles for almost single-handedly getting me out of writer’s block.

Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston, I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song, and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, ‚Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.‘

There’s something about music that encourages people to want to know more about the person that made it, and where it was recorded, what year it was done, what they were listening to, and all this kind of stuff. There’s something that invites all this obsessive behavior.

I collect records. And cats. I don’t have any cats right now. But if I’m taking a walk and I see a cat, I’m happy.

Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it.

I think people should feel encouraged to be themselves.

A ‚No‘ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‚Yes‘ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

I’m a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker’s ‚You Are So Beautiful‘ and Eric Clapton’s ‚Wonderful Tonight‘ – songs that go straight to the point.

Hip-hop saved my life, man. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been even decent at. I don’t know how to do anything else.

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.

My mami and papi love my music. They’re always listening to the radio waiting for one of my songs to come on. And when it does, they turn up the volume – and turn it back down when it’s over.

If you consider the definition of authenticity, it’s saying something and actually doing it. I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It’s all authentic.

Platitudes? Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.

When I was performing the songs on ‚Kiss Land,‘ it was a great singalong. But there were moments where I realized some parts were catchier than the others. There’s maybe two choruses on all of ‚Kiss Land.‘

I’d like to do a completely off-the-wall collaboration. I would like one of my songs to be the hook to a rap song. That would be so much fun!

When I write, it’s like choosing which shoes I’m going to put on. More often than not, my lyrics are personal – but I sometimes have to put myself in other people’s shoes.

Yes, the Bible should be taught in our schools because it is necessary to understand the Bible if we are to truly understand our own culture and how it came to be. The Bible has influenced every part of western culture from our art, music, and history, to our sense of fairness, charity, and business.

The whole slacker generation totally didn’t apply to us musically.

The truth is, I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let men sometimes fool themselves.

I don’t even listen to rap. My apartment is too nice to listen to rap in.

I look out at the stadiums full of people and see them all knowing the words to songs I wrote. And curling their hair! I remember straightening my hair because I wanted to be like everybody else, and now the fact that anybody would emulate what I do? It’s just funny. And wonderful.

I was ready to quit music. It felt to me like music equalled death.

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

I always wanted to operate at the highest altitude, just in terms of hip-hop and the music.

I don’t have to show anything to anyone. There is nothing to prove.

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

The opera is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.

Madonna, I think, is the greatest visual musical artist that we’ve ever had. If you look at her photo log, the photographers that she was able to work with throughout her career framed her in the proper way. It was the proper context. It was that visual that made sure that everything was gonna cut through in a certain way.

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.

There were people who incorporated melody before me, but I would deem myself the first person to successfully rap and sing.

You can’t always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

The worst crime is faking it.

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!

Every man should know, if you’re comfortable and you like it, you should do it. Everyone always worries about what the girls think, what the guys think. If you like it, do it.