I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There’s no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it.

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‚No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.‘

Punk is musical freedom. It’s saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster’s terms, ‚nirvana‘ means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.

I’m on the autism spectrum. I don’t usually follow social coding and so therefore I go my own way.

I mean, what would I be doing if I couldn’t write? But that fortunately hasn’t proved to be the case and I can read any day. I still read a lot, and I can write any day, but much more slowly and fewer words.

I have never used Auto-Tune in a live television performance, and I have never used Auto-Tune in any of my concerts. That is a promise.

Writing makes you feel that there is a reason to go on living. If I couldn’t write, I would stop breathing.

Jesus lived a life that was full of joy and contradictions and fights, you know? If they were to paint a picture of Jesus without contradictions, the gospels would be fake, but the contradictions are a sign of authenticity.

There’s something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now.

My mother says I was writing before I was crawling. I wrote in the dirt with a twig.

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

You’re not going to say anything about me that I’m not going to say about myself. There’s so many things that I think about myself; if someone really wanted to get at me, they could say this and this and this. So I’m going to say it before they can. It’s the best policy for me.

When we’re looking for compassion, we need someone who is deeply rooted, is able to bend and, most of all, embraces us for our strengths and struggles.

The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.

What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think – or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?

I will never say something I don’t agree with or believe in… even if the reward is massive!

I’m different from any other designer, businesswise, in that I’ve built this company up and I own it. I never had business hype behind me to promote my image… My image is real… I have never had marketing people telling me what to do.

When I was married, I definitely went through a lying period.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt that same kind of peace, the kind of serenity that I felt after acknowledging that maybe I was going to die of this TB.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

I know some people might think it odd – unworthy even – for me to have written a cookbook, but I make no apologies. The U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins thought I had demeaned myself by writing poetry for Hallmark Cards, but I am the people’s poet so I write for the people.

I’ve always felt quite singular, even as a child. That I must stay on track to keep my purpose.

I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject, rather does the person grow to look like his portrait.

I’ve lost both parents in the last two years, so you pick up on that stuff. That’s the most terrible thing about being an author – standing there at your mother’s funeral, but you don’t switch the author off. So your own innermost thoughts are grist for the mill.

My fans don’t feel like I hold anything back from them. They know whatever I’m going through now, they’ll hear about it on a record someday. They’ll hear the real story. There’s a little bit of lag time. It’s not as instant as going on a gossip blog. But it’s much more accurate.

Wherever the invitation of men or your own occasions lead you, speak the very truth, as your life and conscience teach it, and cheer the waiting, fainting hearts of men with new hope and new revelation.

I am an artist, and I have the ability and the free will to choose the way the world will envision me.

Style is that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. It is the mind skating circles around itself as it moves forward.

I don’t want enemies. I want friends, and I want them in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and loving whoever they want to.

No one can lie, no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone’s eyes.

Custom reconciles us to everything.

There’s something which impels us to show our inner souls. The more courageous we are, the more we succeed in explaining what we know.

What people see on court is another side of me; it’s not me.

When you come to see a picture of mine, I want you to know that I’m not going to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. I want you to know that you won’t be disappointed in me.

Jesus didn’t die for us so we could pretend to be something we’re not.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

Every time somebody speaks of my honesty, there is someone who quivers inside me.

I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.

Until it’s on the radio or online, it’s not real. With U2, our album isn’t finished until it’s in the stores.

Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.

I’m different than most people. When I cross the finish line of a big race, I see that people are ecstatic, but I’m thinking about what I’m going to do tomorrow. It’s as if my journey is everlasting, and there is no finish line.

Integrity has no need of rules.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

You aren’t normal if you sing to people. You aren’t a normal person. It’s nerve-racking.

I specifically did not read other First Ladies‘ books, because I didn’t want to be influenced by how they defined the role. I knew that I would have to find this role – very uniquely and specifically to me and who I was.

It is only a man’s own fundamental thoughts that have truth and life in them. For it is these that he really and completely understands. To read the thoughts of others is like taking the remains of someone else’s meal, like putting on the discarded clothes of a stranger.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

I am not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.

I can’t help the way you was born if you was gay.

I don’t ever want to come out with something safe and get away with, ‚It sounds good!‘ It’s got to be more than sounding good. The music I like are events.

With all singers, insecurity is your best security. That’s why we’re such loud people and why we walk all funny. You think, ‚Are people interested?‘ But I think our band has something and they know we don’t just put albums out. We do think about it.

To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.

To live outside the law, you must be honest.

No man should be in politics unless he would honestly rather not be there.

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

As an adolescent, I was painfully shy, withdrawn. I didn’t really have the nerve to sing my songs on stage, and nobody else was doing them. I decided to do them in disguise so that I didn’t have to actually go through the humiliation of going on stage and being myself.

One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.