I wrote a song with Ed Sheeran that was kind of spontaneous.

I really wish I knew what I was doing because I’d be writing hit songs every minute.

‚Two Voices,‘ from my album with Peter Schwalm, is an intact dream-poem. I awoke one night with an image of a piece of paper and all the words of the poem written on it, so I just blundered down to the kitchen table and ‚copied it out.‘

I think, team first. It allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed.

And of course to work with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, and work with a wonderful, beautiful script directed by Nancy Meyers, it was really for me a dream come true.

Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

I just try to write songs that people are going to have a dialogue about.

There’s been a lot of talk about Jack White wanting to work with me, and I’ve always admired him, and of course, he lives in Nashville, too.

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.

A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle.

I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working toward a common goal.

Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen.

When individual members of the team are highly disciplined, they can be trusted and, therefore, allowed to operate with very little oversight.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

I like Mr. Gorbachev, we can do business together.

Neither sex, without some fertilization of the complimentary characters of the other, is capable of the highest reaches of human endeavor.

We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.

We have observed that, in society and the world in which we live, selfishness has increased more than love for others, and that men of good will must work, each with his own strengths and expertise, to ensure that love for others increases until it is equal and possibly exceeds love for oneself.

I think we understand that for the Court to work well, we have to not only respect but genuinely like each other.

If you get an opportunity to work with David Simon, anybody with good taste would.

Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half.

My company survives because I’ve learned to respect the ideas of people younger than me and recognize when my wisdom is obsolete.

We have a very open culture at the company, where we foster a lot of interaction between not just me and people but between everyone else. It’s an open floor plan. People have these desks where no one really has an office. I mean, I have a room where I meet with people. But it has all glass, so everyone can see into it and see what’s going on.

Diplomacy is listening to what the other guy needs. Preserving your own position, but listening to the other guy. You have to develop relationships with other people so when the tough times come, you can work together.

I just want to keep writing music.

I never wanted to write the sort of song that said, ‚Look at how abnormal and crazy and out there I am, man!‘

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

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

I don’t want a brat on my team.

I’m not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many great directors. Different styles, as well, like Gus Van Sant. He just does the casting and the milieu and let’s you do your thing, quietly. Bertolucci, who can talk to you about your internal world in quite a creative way or just say, ‚Well, put your hand over here.‘

Science is the captain, and practice the soldiers.

The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.

But I’m pretty good with collaborative thinking. I work well with other people.

Our best thoughts come from others.

Most of the time, songs that I write end up being finished in 30 minutes or less.

My songwriting is like extending a hand to the listener.

When I was four, I wrote a song about falling into a black hole.

When I’m writing a record, I kind of don’t listen to much music. Just because I want to be inspired solely on the emotion; just based on how it feels.

Lyrics are so important, but they’re really underrated.

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.

Robert Fripp and I will be recording another LP very soon. It should be even more monotonous than the first one!

There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.

Factoring in millions of people when I’m writing a song is not a good idea. I don’t ever do it.

When you have that respect from your teammates, it makes it a lot more comfortable.

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

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.

I usually write lyrics first, and then when I get home or close to any kind of instrument, I usually make a melody for those lyrics.

I write music every day.

A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.

You just don’t wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.

I look out at the stadiums full of people and see them all knowing the words to songs I wrote. And curling their hair! I remember straightening my hair because I wanted to be like everybody else, and now the fact that anybody would emulate what I do? It’s just funny. And wonderful.

When you write a song like ‚Forrest Gump,‘ the subject can’t be androgynous. It requires an unnecessary amount of effort.

Every relationship should eventually become a long-term relationship. Any director that I meet now isn’t just a director. He’s potentially a friend, and someone I can call to do a project that I want or that I have.

You can write a song about being in love with someone, but you don’t have to be in love with anyone.

I have a producing partner named Stephen Hamel, and we’ve been trying to generate material.

Collegiality is crucial to the success of our mission. We could not do the job the Constitution assigns to us if we didn’t – to use one of Justice Antonin Scalia’s favorite expressions – ‚Get over it!‘

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 think if I did something in the pop world right now, it would be for Rihanna. I’d love to do something production wise for her.

Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.