I’m pretty sure I don’t have any songs that are about how much I love someone. They’re all either about, like, ‚I hate you,‘ or ‚You make me hate me.‘

Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities.

If the Great Way perishes there will morality and duty. When cleverness and knowledge arise great lies will flourish. When relatives fall out with one another there will be filial duty and love. When states are in confusion there will be faithful servants.

I think women go crazy for a reason. It’s not like it just happens.

Logically, harmony must come from the heart… Harmony very much based on trust. As soon as use force, creates fear. Fear and trust cannot go together.

People always say when they meet me that I’m not what they expect. I assume they think I’m this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.

Fill the earth with your songs of gratitude.

When I worked on a magazine, I learned that there are many, many writers writing that can’t write at all; and they keep on writing all the cliches and bromides and 1890 plots, and poems about Spring and poems about Love, and poems they think are modern because they are done in slang or staccato style, or written with all the ‚i’s‘ small.

U2 is an original species… there are colours and feelings and emotional terrain that we occupy that is ours and ours alone.

All my momma’s people were very musical. My grandpa, who was the Pentecostal minister, he was a great musician. He played the fiddle, he played the piano.

This world of ours… must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

I’ve never thought about songwriting as a weapon. I’ve only thought about it as a way to help me get through love and loss and sadness and loneliness and growing up.

I want to marry Arline because I love her – which means I want to take care of her. That is all there is to it. I want to take care of her. I am anxious for the responsibilities and uncertainties of taking care of the girl I love.

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

I have noticed… that men usually leave married women alone and are inclined to treat all wives with respect. This is no great credit to married women.

I went through all the musicians in my life who I admire as bright, intelligent, virtuosic players.

Sex without love is a meaningless experience, but as far as meaningless experiences go its pretty damn good.

Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).

Where fear is, happiness is not.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.

I would love to sign on to do a movie if it was the right role and if it was the right script, because I would be taking time away from music to tell a big grand story, and spend all of my time and pouring all of my emotions into being someone else. So for me to do that, it would have to be a story worth telling.

I get so excited when a song I wrote that’s very personal to me goes No. 1 and I look down and see people singing the words back to me.

Television sounded really different than the Ramones sounded really different than us sounded really different than Blondie sounded really different than the Sex Pistols.

Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else.

I’d love to date somebody cool, fun, funny.

There have been many great men that have flattered the people who ne’er loved them.

To all the musicians, to the Academy, with all due respect, reggaeton is part of our Latin culture. And its representing as much as any other genre at the worldwide level.

If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.

We’re so immaturely cynical as a culture. We’re not wise enough to look at an institution like marriage and to really things about what it means and what it signifies. It signifies a place where people can tie the ropes of their lives together so that they’re stronger. It signifies a place where people can tell the truth to one another.

Five or six songs leaked from the original version of ‚Encore.‘ So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them.

The sadness of the women’s movement is that they don’t allow the necessity of love. See, I don’t personally trust any revolution where love is not allowed.

I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.

Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.

In a budget, how important is art versus music versus athletics versus computer programming? At the end of the day, some of those trade-offs will be made politically.

The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.

I’m an emotional person. Sometimes I can’t help it.

Man’s nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature.

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

I don’t like people going behind my back.

My favorite record label of all time is Motown. That era of music was my favorite.

I respect Drake not only as a creative person but as a business mind as well. I think Drake’s important.

Your personal history is a part of what happens with your hands and your head as you play music.

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Happiness is a hard master, particularly other people’s happiness.

Love is an interesting thing. Perhaps I’ve never been in love before – I don’t really know? I think I have. I guess it’s subjective in that way.

Football is a sad game.

Sometimes, I’m very embarrassed.

For me, often, there’s such a cloud of melancholia about knowing I’m going to have to leave my daughter on her own. I don’t know what age that is going to be, thank God. It just doubles me up in grief.

The thing about hip-hop today is it’s smart, it’s insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.

Adultery is the application of democracy to love.

It’s terrifying to play your favorite band’s song in front of your favorite band.

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.

For what is love itself, for the one we love best? An enfolding of immeasurable cares which yet are better than any joys outside our love.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.

Grief can take care if itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.

To abandon oneself to principles is really to die – and to die for an impossible love which is the contrary of love.

Let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.