I was a super once – an extra – in ‚Die Fledermaus,‘ and was seated within three feet of Placido Domingo. I had never heard a voice of that beauty so close up. It felt as if an electric shock were running through me.

Sing me a new song; the world is transfigured; all the Heavens are rejoicing.

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.

When I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn’t even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.

I like Cardi B!

My only scheme was to be a rapper.

I would drive to gigs in my tiny little Fiat. I would shoot up and down the M1 to play at various places.

I have to practice to be good at guitar. I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.

I don’t profess to have music as my big wheel and there are a number of other things as important to me apart from music. Theatre and mime, for instance.

Music will never go away, and I will never stop making music; it’s just what capacity or what arena you decide to do it.

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.

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

You can’t really imagine music without technology.

In high school I wanted to be a rock star and was in a lot of bands.

It seems almost backwards to me that my music seems the more emotional outlet, and the art stuff seems more about ideas.

Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below.

In the 1960s, people were trying to get away from the pop song format. Tracks were getting longer, or much, much shorter.

Punk was defined by an attitude rather than a musical style.

Music, for me, is vital. Punjabi, Bollywood, Sufi, RnB… I listen to it all. When I’m not listening to music, you will find me chatting with friends. Off the field, I just let my instincts take over. I certainly don’t think about batting, or which bowlers I’m going to face.

I found music to be the therapy of choice. I guess it is for a lot of people.

In Puerto Rico we dance to everything.

My mother is a singer, my sisters all sing, my uncles are incredible singers and guitar players, so it’s just kind of been like my habitat.

I just really want to get music out and tour and go places I’ve never been, and just do more videos. I love photography and videography, and so I really want to direct videos when I can.

My goal in music is to create nostalgic moments.

Singing aloud leaves you with a sense of levity and contentedness.

A letdown is worth a few songs. A heartbreak is worth a few albums.

‚Trilogy‘ was more of a claustrophobic body of work. Before it was released, I hadn’t left my city for 21 years, and I had never been on a plane, not once. I spent my entire life on one setting; that’s probably why pieces of the album feel like one long track, because that’s what my life felt like. It felt like one long song.

‚Evil men have no songs.‘ How is it that the Russians have songs?

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.

Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans.

The vibe on ‚Starboy‘ comes from that hip-hop culture of braggadocio, from Wu-Tang and 50 Cent, the kind of music I listened to as a kid.

I’m not interested in possible complexities. I regard song structure as a graph paper.

I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.

I always had music growing up, but music was also like a journal. It was like my personal diary or personal journal. A lot of the things I couldn’t express to an individual, I would express them in my music.

Truly fertile Music, the only kind that will move us, that we shall truly appreciate, will be a Music conducive to Dream, which banishes all reason and analysis. One must not wish first to understand and then to feel. Art does not tolerate Reason.

I just want to keep writing music.

I never went to rock concerts when I was a kid. I didn’t see any rock & roll bands. I had posters on my wall. I had Beatles records.

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

I think what made it difficult for people to get, and still makes it difficult for people to get, is the theatrical nature of the work and the fact that, my music doesn’t exist without the performance-art element.

Man, I’m the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix.

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.

Searching for music is like searching for God. They’re very similar. There’s an effort to reclaim the unmentionable, the unsayable, the unseeable, the unspeakable, all those things, comes into being a composer and to writing music and to searching for notes and pieces of musical information that don’t exist.

I often get ideas for songs on the tour bus at odd times. Like at 6am when no one is around, I’d just write.

Mick Fleetwood was one of my first interviews. And if you’ve ever talked to that dude, he’s the sweetest guy in the world – he’s just a trip.

Environment is very important to me. Sometimes I have to perform during the day for festivals, and my music does not work in the daytime. It is nighttime music.

Music has the power to inspire the world.

You get to a point where it’s like you can’t really do anything right, and people will pick on you for whatever decisions you make, so I just try and take no notice and get on with my music.

I like to combine the dramatic emotional warmth of strings with the grooves and body business of drums and bass.

You listen to the radio and all the songs sound the same, from 8 in the morning to 12.

Puerto Rico’s relationship with music is everything. It’s an island full of talent and if you grow up there, you grow up living and breathing music.

I do value the respect I get from my contemporaries, but to have Oasis cover my song, to have Puff Daddy cover a song, to have Goldie come along to my gigs – that’s where my ego is at. To have my fellow musicians like what I do, that’s very cool.

Kanye West is my favorite artist.

I know a lot of people who wouldn’t be comfortable with everything that comes with being in a band as big as Nirvana. The thing that I don’t understand is not appreciating that simple gift of being able to play music.

‚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.‘

I don’t know if it’s changing already with ‚Joanne,‘ but my intention is to bring people together that don’t know each other and that would maybe feel awkward, but somehow be brought together by the music. That’s what I wanted to do. Because that is pure and authentic to my family history and what I stand for.

If you hear Anarchy in the UK today your hair stands on end. It gives you the shivers.

My whole life and my whole career, even through my music, I tell people: let’s unify; let’s show more love.

Growing up, my grandmother did not want worldly music in the house. Then when I went out to California, I started listening to Spanish music, mostly Mexican music. But were I in Egypt, I would listen to the music of the people, or if I was in Italy, I’d listen to Italian music.

Anybody that doesn’t like Cardi B a hater!

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.

I think we’re about ready for a new feeling to enter music. I think that will come from the Arabic world.