Malcolm X was the first political person in this country that I really identified with. If he had lived and not been purged, I probably would have joined the Muslims.

Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don’t go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won’t laugh at you.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

I just love Bowie. I think he’s the ultimate inventor.

I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.

Most people dream a dream when they are asleep. But to be a writer, you have to dream while you are awake, intentionally. So I get up early in the morning, 4 o’clock, and I sit at my desk and what I do is just dream. After three or four hours, that’s enough. In the afternoon, I run. The next day, the dream will continue.

There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.

I usually don’t like to ‚spoon feed‘ my audience, because I grew up idolizing story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same.

I’m a songwriter. Everything affects me.

Sometimes you recognize that there is a category of human experience that has not been identified but everyone knows about it. That is when I find a term to describe it.

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

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.

Water is the driving force of all nature.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.

Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

You cannot be creative with people around you.

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

I think it’s important as an artist to never forget where you’re from.

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.

There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.

We have one planet in our solar system that’s habitable, and that’s the Earth, and space travel can transform things back here for the better. First of all, by just having people go to space and look back on this fragile planet we live on. People have come back transformed and have done fantastic things.

I want to make something that is breathtaking. Of course, you can’t make something that is always breathtaking, or you would never be able to breathe. You would collapse.

I remember flying in, driving down 101 in a cab, and passing by all these tech companies like Yahoo! I remember thinking, ‚Maybe someday we’ll build a company. This probably isn’t it, but one day we will.‘

How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

The greatest story of all is Colonel Sanders. He didn’t start until he was sixty-six on a freeway bypass for his chicken shop. Anything is possible!

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

Howard Zinn was magical as a teacher. Witty, irreverent, and wise, he loved what he was teaching and clearly wanted his students to love it, also.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we’ve got a system that allows them to do it.

I dwell in possibility.

We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.

I don’t know that much about who directs what movies, but I’m definitely inspired by the look of old movies; I find them to be really beautiful.

The idea that is not dangerous is not worthy of being called an idea at all.

I think my biggest musical hero growing up was probably Ian MacKaye. He set a great example for all of us local musicians. Still, to this day, I see him as the best example of a right-on musician.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin – find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.

Music can change the world because it can change people.

Sporadic thoughts will pop into my head and I’ll have to go write something down, and the next thing you know I’ve written a whole song in an hour.

Any artist, the work you do, if it’s a painting or if it’s a performance, you hope it translates to a common denominator with the people that they see something in their own life in there. Or they see something in somebody else’s life. That’s what’s fun about sharing art.

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

We live in a culture that relishes tearing others down. It’s ultimately more fulfilling, though, to help people reach their goals. Instead of feeling jealous, remember: If God did it for them, He can do it for you.

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.

No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

As a songwriter, you respect and appreciate the writings of other people, and I often get asked, are there songs out there I wish I’d written? Yes. There’s many of them!

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.

Prince Charles is definitely my hero; he uses his position to do only good in this world.

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.

I have fallen in love with the imagination. And if you fall in love with the imagination, you understand that it is a free spirit. It will go anywhere, and it can do anything.

I always dreamt of holding the bat and winning games for India. That was my inspiration to take up cricket.

If there’s not drama and negativity in my life, all my songs will be really wack and boring or something.