In a long meter hymn, a singer – they call it ‚lays out a line.‘ And then the whole church joins in in repeating that line. And they form a wall of harmony so tight, you can’t wedge a pin between it.

When I joined Nirvana, I was the fifth or sixth drummer – I don’t know if they’d ever had a drummer they were totally happy with. And they were strangers. There was never much of a deeper connection outside of the music.

Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock.

I taught myself how to play the guitar, I taught myself how to play the drums, and I kind of fake doing both of them. But drumming comes more natural to me, and it just feels better.

We’re a community of a billion-plus people, and the best-selling phones – apart from the iPhone – can sell 10, 20 million. If we did build a phone, we’d only reach 1 or 2 percent of our users. That doesn’t do anything awesome for us. We wanted to turn as many phones as possible into ‚Facebook phones.‘ That’s what Facebook Home is.

I used to think that, given enough goodwill, anybody would be able to ‚get‘ any music, no matter how distant the culture from which it came. And then I heard Chinese opera.

I just want to keep writing music.

I’ve noticed a lot of younger artists have less fear of doing different sorts of things, whether it’s various types of music, or gallery artists moving between video and sculpture and drawing.

From the moment I started writing raps, I was always aware of the pressure. I always wanted to live up to how huge Snoop got, how huge Dre got, how huge Pac got. I was always aware.

It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.

All of my songs are autobiographical.

I think I can keep a rhythm to a beat, but there are quite a few people who would argue with me.

People haven’t always been there for me, but music always has.

I’d love to do a duet, always wanted to work with Madonna, but she never asked.

I used to carry my father’s Bible and put it on the pulpit so he could preach.

I realized the power of hip-hop. I realized how influential this music and this culture are.

The age of a woman doesn’t mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.

I love Chris Brown. He’s a superstar. He’s one of the best singers out there.

A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there.

When I speak at my local church, which I try to do 35 to 40 times a year, I try in every lesson to take the Old Testament text or New Testament text and apply them to what is happening to me or how that applies to the audience that I’m teaching in a modern, fast-changing, technological world. I use headlines, interfaith and that sort of thing.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

It’s very important to know the neighbor next door and the people down the street and the people in another race.

We have an obligation to help people that cannot help themselves. The mentally retarded, the physically retarded, et cetera.

If the Christian is a restorationist, a legalist, if he wants everything clear and safe, then he will find nothing. Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God.

I don’t even listen to rap. My apartment is too nice to listen to rap in.

One of the benefits of playing to small audiences in small clubs for a few years is that you’re allowed to fail.

Who’s to say what’s a good voice and not a good voice?

Fill the earth with your songs of gratitude.

The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.

You know how you either grow up in a Michael Jackson house or a Prince house? For me it was Michael Jackson. I could never decide whether I wanted to be Michael Jackson or marry him.

It’s always great to perform at home in the good ol‘ U.S.A.

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

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.

Having listened to great songwriters like James Taylor and Carole King, I felt there was nothing new that was coming out that really represented me and the way I felt. So I started writing my own stuff.

I used to love Kurt Cobain, when he was telling people we’re a pop band. People would laugh, they thought of it as good old ironic Kurt. But he wasn’t being ironic.

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.

Get off your horse and drink your milk.

I advocate that every woman be a part of a circle, and a circle that meets at least once a month, or if you can’t do that, once every two months or every four months.

And I saw the sax line-up that he had behind him and I thought, I’m going to learn the saxophone. When I grow up, I’m going to play in his band. So I sort of persuaded my dad to get me a kind of a plastic saxophone on the hire purchase plan.

I feel that when you care about your music, taking risks is something you should do to keep things exciting.

Music has an intrinsic meaning, which has always been mysterious to me.

I own a ’66 Jaguar. That’s the guitar I polish, and baby – I refuse to let anyone touch it when I jump into the crowd.

I’m not anti-middle-class in the slightest. Look at me! I am very pro people putting time and money and effort into trying to improve the world.

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

In my songs, I’m not saying something that’s never been said before. The have lyrics aren’t going to blow people away. It’s the emotion and the melody that drive it home.

Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.

To all the musicians who are making reggaeton, let’s put some more effort into it and bring something new to the people!

I’ve known for years that the university underserved the community, because we assumed that university education is for 18- to 22-year-olds, which is a proposition that’s so absurd it is absolutely mind-boggling that anyone ever conceptualized it. Why wouldn’t you take university courses throughout your entire life?

Man, that record came out and was real big in Memphis. They started playing it, and it got real big. Don’t know why-the lyrics had no meaning.

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.

We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.

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

I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.

Where I grew up – I grew up on the north side of Akron, lived in the projects. So those scared and lonely nights – that’s every night. You hear a lot of police sirens, you hear a lot of gunfire. Things that you don’t want your kids to hear growing up.

I’m a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker’s ‚You Are So Beautiful‘ and Eric Clapton’s ‚Wonderful Tonight‘ – songs that go straight to the point.

I want to keep making records as long as I can, but I don’t know how long you can be taken seriously in rap.

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.

I don’t think I’d ever make an album of just covers because I love writing my own music.

I do probably 60 concerts a year in the States. And I go out to clubs in the week. I’m doing new stuff all the time.

Music has the power to inspire the world.

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