I think when people make a record with a goal in mind – like taking it to the next level or making them seem more mature – that gets in the way of writing great songs.

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

I’m not one icon. I’m every icon. I’m an icon that is made out of all the colors on the palette at every time. I have no restrictions. No restrictions.

It was that famous joke: What’s the last thing the drummer said before he got kicked out of the band? ‚Hey, I wrote a song.‘

I wrote my first song at 12 and remember someone asking, ‚What were you going through at 12 that you could write about?‘ I get what you’re saying, but 11, 12, 13 were the hardest years of my life. You learn everything. You learn how horrible things feel.

A chorus is not easy.

The bravest person I’ve ever met was a young boy going through massive amounts of treatment for a very rare, complex and unpleasant disease. I last saw him at a Discworld convention, where he chose to take part in a game as an assassin. He died not long afterwards, and I wish I had his fortitude and sense of style.

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

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

I’ve always tended to write songs prolifically.

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.

You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.

I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.

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

Anything that encourages people to pick up an instrument and play, I’m fully behind.

I don’t know how to function without music. When I’m not making it, I’m listening to it. It gives me courage and takes care of my mind.

Creativity is the key to success in the future, and primary education is where teachers can bring creativity in children at that level.

When I listen to music these days, and I hear Pro Tools and drums that sound like a machine – it kinda sucks the life out of music.

Editing is now the easiest thing on earth to do, and all the things that evolved out of word processing – ‚Oh, let’s put that sentence there, let’s get rid of this‘ – have become commonplace in films and music too.

I like to work with artists from around the world. There are so many new inspiring filmmakers.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

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

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

A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.

The whole ‚enigmatic artist‘ thing, I just ran with it.

We can never learn too much of His will towards us, too much of His messages and His advice. The Bible is His word and its study gives at once the foundation for our faith and an inspiration to battle onward in the fight against the tempter.

Some of the stories I admire seem to zero in on one particular time and place. There isn’t a rule about this. But there’s a tidy sense about many stories I read. In my own work, I tend to cover a lot of time and to jump back and forward in time, and sometimes the way I do this is not very straightforward.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

My music seems to have a bigger mission than I have, which is very soothing but also very strange because people see more in me than I see, which can be terrifying.

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

Music when healthy, is the teacher of perfect order, and when depraved, the teacher of perfect disorder.

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.

Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band – or at least in a Pixies cover band.

For the chorus of ‚Secrets,‘ we used The Romantics‘ ‚Talking in Your Sleep‘ and ‚Pale Shelter‘ by Tears for Fears. It’s like hip-hop: just grab it.

Doing graphic novels is cool! It’s fun! You get to write something, and then see it visually page by page, panel by panel, working with the artist, you get to see it fleshed out.

Years ago, when I first started being a big star, I had fans that were fanatical. It was when ‚Jolene‘ was a big hit.

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.

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.

Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.

I tell everybody, I get so much because I give so much. I give freely, I give all my time, give all my money, give all of my soul. I try to motivate people. I try to inspire them.

The value of beauty and inspiration is very much underrated, no question. But I want to be clear: I’m not trying to be anyone’s savior. I’m just trying to think about the future and not be sad.

From wonder into wonder existence opens.

Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.

I’m convinced that no one can amount to a damn in the arts if he becomes sweetly reasonable, seeing all sides of a picture, forgiving all sins.

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

I subscribe to the myth that an artist’s creativity comes from torment. Once that’s fixed, what do you draw on?

Sometimes I think that there’s a fine line between impressionistic and messy.

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.‘

I wanted to be in a punk band before I had even heard any punk music.

I don’t know if I ever feel totally great about a record when I put it out. With every record that I put out, someone has literally got to come pry it from me because when I listen to my own music, I just hear flaws in it.

I’m not claiming divinity. I’ve never claimed purity of soul. I’ve never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can… But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.

The book is not really the container for the book. The book itself is the narrative. It’s the thing that people create.

What is Apple, after all? Apple is about people who think ‚outside the box,‘ people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference, and not just to get a job done.

The function of the artist is to invent, not to chronicle.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they’ll do wonders. I count on them.

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

In my younger days, I was trying to write sophisticated prose and fantastic stories.

As I got older, I guess I became more mellow and more forgiving and more loving.