I think that by staying true to myself and making music from my heart, the blessings come.

‚In Utero‘ was the first time I’d made an album that reached into the dark side. I remember the conflict and the uncertainty. I remember all those things when I hear ‚Pennyroyal Tea.‘

Never regret what you don’t write.

In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.

I was always interested in choreography – in making people think and feel something.

I always tell audiences when I talk about writing: Writing isn’t something I do; writing is something that I am. I am writing – it’s just an expression of me.

This Sunday School has been of help to me, greater perhaps than any other force in my Christian life, and I can ask no better things for you than that you, and all that shall come after you in this great band of workers for Christ, shall receive the same measure of blessedness which I have been permitted to have.

My whole life, I’ve sung and listened to music, and since the beginning, I’ve had iTunes and used Apple Music for streaming.

I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

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

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

In this day and age, when you can use a machine or computer to simulate or emulate what people can do together, it still can’t replace the magic of four people in a room playing.

I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.

I think a poet is anybody who wouldn’t call himself a poet.

Writing is a solitary experience. I’m extremely superstitious. If I talk about the book or name the title out loud before finishing, I feel the energy I need to write will be drained. It’s so intimate, I can’t even share it with my wife.

The mind of the painter must resemble a mirror, which always takes the colour of the object it reflects and is completely occupied by the images of as many objects as are in front of it.

I’ve always been a fan of melody and emotional melancholy, whether it was Rites of Spring or Tears for Fears or Neil Young. If I hear a song that has a sweet melody, I’m a sucker for it, whether it’s Linkin Park or Little Richard.

Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion.

On the other hand, what I like my music to do to me is awaken the ghosts inside of me. Not the demons, you understand, but the ghosts.

I would have a workshop attached to every school, and one hour a day given up to the teaching of simple decorative arts. It would be a golden hour to the children.

No one sells a song better than the person that wrote it.

I was a sociology major. And it had nothing to do necessarily with law, which is ultimately – I went to law school. But what I tried to do was choose something that I was passionate about or something that I cared about.

Every day is a gift from God. Learn to focus on the Giver and enjoy the gift!

We based the look on rock ‚n roll right from the beginning.

I don’t know how the rap game is, because I’m a fan of reality, and the rap game’s entertainment.

My parents were the same in the pulpit as they were at home. I think that’s where a lot of preachers‘ kids get off base sometimes. Because they don’t see the same things at both places.

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 life is not to be somebody else’s impact – you know what I mean?

God can cause opportunity to find you. He has unexpected blessings where you suddenly meet the right person, or suddenly your health improves, or suddenly you’re able to pay off your house. That’s God shifting things in your favor.

I thought it was magic to be able to catch something identically on tape and then be able to play around with it, run it backwards; I thought that was great for years.

If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.

In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley.

This has always been my life and no one else’s, and that’s how it’s always been since the day I came in it.

Football is unconditional love.

I can operate in half-a-song format.

To be honest, I never really considered myself to be too much of an actress. So, whenever I get the chance to do music, I’m always, like, just in it. It’s like, ‚Oh my God, I finally get to do this. I’m so happy.‘

No man was ever great by imitation.

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.

One day, I’ll be listening to a bunch of Ray Charles, the next day it’s nothing but Red Hot Chili Peppers. The next day it might be Tupac all day.

You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.

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.

You know, my sister sings, my brother plays drums in my band. My whole family is a bunch of musicians.

If I’m gonna write songs about my exes, they can write songs about me. That’s how it works.

The last people with any ideas are young people.

I want the world to see my body.

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

I was always singing but didn’t plan on pursuing it seriously. When I got to New York City when I was 18, I started playing in clubs in Brooklyn – I have good friends and devoted fans on the underground scene, but we were playing for each other at that point – and that was it.

I’m totally myself.

The intensity of the football and how the people live football in Liverpool – it is not a usual.

As for my stuff, I’m just doing guest verses for other people’s records. I try to stay recording, because if I don’t, I get rusty.

The lyrics are constructed as empirically as the music. I don’t set out to say anything very important.

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

Sometimes, I want to talk on a song and be angry, because I am angry. Then there’s always a part of me that remembers that this record lives past my being angry, and so do I really want to be angry about that? Is that feeling going to have longevity?

You are remembered for the rules you break.

For just when ideas fail, a word comes in to save the situation.

My passion is bringing storylines around and constructing a full body of work rather than just a 16-bar verse.

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

I never wanted to stay in one genre; I never wanted to be pigeon-holed or defined as the actor who only worked in one genre. I want to be able to work in all different genres. For me it’s fun, and that’s how I grow as an actor.

When I stop working the rest of the day is posthumous. I’m only really alive when I’m writing.

Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.