I think maybe people see bands and musicians as some sort of superhero unrealistic sport that happens in another dimension where it’s not real people and not real emotions. So, I grew up listening to Beatles records on my floor. That’s how I learned how to play guitar. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be a musician.

If it weren’t for the Beatles, I would not be a musician.

I used to consider the listener. But now I’m in a space where, if I’m not inspired, I can’t really do the music. I can’t feel it.

I tried to give the world a bit of creativity, lyrics. And for me, I will always represent music from Puerto Rico, reggaeton, Latin music.

My goal in music is to create nostalgic moments.

Bravery never goes out of fashion.

I belong to a gospel choir. They know I am an atheist but they are very tolerant.

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

If I was just a fan of music, I would think that I was the number one artist in the world.

When I was born, that was the music my mother was listening to. Michael Jackson is a third parent to me.

I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.

The influence of ‚Hidden Fortress‘ comes up a lot because it was printed in a book once. The truth is, the only thing I was inspired by was the fact that it’s told from the point of view of two peasants, who get mixed up with a samurai and princess and a lot of very high-level people.

I want to keep making records as long as I can, but I don’t know how long you can be taken seriously in rap.

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

My nails are my rhythm section when I’m writing a song all alone. Some day, I may cut an album, just me and my nails.

I try to devote my afternoons to making music in my home studio, but it’s a lot more fun hanging out with musicians and friends, and trying subtly to influence a band than making your own stuff.

I wish I could play bass like Larry Graham or Bootsy Collins. My God, I’d give up just about everything else for that.

When I was five I think, that’s when I started wanting to be an actress.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

I just kind of wake up with a new idea and new dreams every day, and I follow that dream, as they say.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

I became interested in folk music because I had to make it somehow.

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.‘

The eagle has no fear of adversity. We need to be like the eagle and have a fearless spirit of a conqueror!

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

I want to be like Bruce Springsteen or something, making songs that are relevant.

None of my kids want to be actors. They are actually very interested in being musicians. I think they like the process of film from the outside. Mad is interested in editing. Pax loves music and deejaying.

I listen to music all day every day. I can’t not listen to music. It’s kind of scary how much I listen to music, but it’s what I love, and it’s all I care about, so I’m good with it.

You might win some, you might lose some. But you go in, you challenge yourself, you become a better man, a better individual, a better fighter.

If I could write directly on a typewriter or a computer, I would do it. But keyboards have always intimidated me. I’ve never been able to think clearly with my fingers in that position. A pen is a much more primitive instrument. You feel that the words are coming out of your body and then you dig the words into the page.

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

People haven’t always been there for me, but music always has.

It is impossible to experience one’s death objectively and still carry a tune.

I hate the idea of genres.

I sang a lot of low stuff on songs like ‚Secrets‘ and ‚Rockin‘,‘ almost like Toni Braxton. On ‚Secrets,‘ I’m a different person.

All of my music is honest.

I was part of Jazzercise class. It was an aerobics routine accompanied by loud music, sounding quite awful to me. Jazzercise was popular in the ’80s and ’90s.

When I won the first Grammy, there was no other feeling like that feeling. It just made me feel like I came so far, like that was just a dream a few years before that, and then it was happening right then.

I don’t like the name, U2, actually.

Our best thoughts come from others.

When we started, a lot of bands sounded really different from one another.

Nothing feels better than going onstage and everybody is singing every word – and actually wanting to see you.

Music is part of the life of fashion, too.

When it comes down to it, glam rock was all very amusing. At the time, it was funny, then a few years later it became sort of serious-looking and a bit foreboding.

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.

Susceptibility to the highest forces is the highest genius.

In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike.

I was a Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan fan growing up.

Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.

I think ‚Invisible‘ is a great song, but I don’t know how accessible it is.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Honestly, I never really put the mic down.

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

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.

Do not think of your faults, still less of other’s faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.

I played with two lines of action figures when I was a kid: G.I. Joe and Star Wars.

There’s so much about Dolly Parton that every female artist should look to, whether it’s reading her quotes or reading her interviews or going to one of her live shows. She’s been such an amazing example to every female songwriter out there.

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.

Hitch your wagon to a star.