My writing is jagged and harsh, I want it to remain that way; I don’t want it smoothed out.

Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.

Truth has rough flavours if we bite it through.

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?

I don’t really have a gimmick or a ‚thing.‘ I’m one of the few artists who gets to be himself every day.

I think there is a little magic in the fact that I’m so totally real but look so artificial at the same time.

It is very hard to not be able to engage with people in a real and honest way because they either want something from me, or they see me as something that I simply am not.

One of my big goals as a human being is to continue to write what’s really happening to me, even if it’s a tough pill to swallow for people around me… I do fear that if I ever were to have someone in my life who mattered, I would second-guess every one of my lyrics.

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

I always felt that if I was going to do a movie, I wanted it to be authentic.

I like to be myself, and I don’t pretend. For instance, I don’t dress up for occasions; I am what I am.

Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.

I don’t have to show anything to anyone. There is nothing to prove.

I’m giving all that I have in this life. I’m opening up my notebook, and I’m saying everything in there out loud.

I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.

If you consider the definition of authenticity, it’s saying something and actually doing it. I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It’s all authentic.

Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first.

I tend not to like an awful lot of what is going out under my name now because it is just all product. Who needs it?

Because we’re actors we can pretend and fake it, but I’d rather the intimate investment was authentic.

I write from my soul. This is the reason that critics don’t hurt me, because it is me. If it was not me, if I was pretending to be someone else, then this could unbalance my world, but I know who I am.

Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.

There’s no point in saying anything but the truth.

The art of acting is not to act. Once you show them more, what you show them, in fact is bad acting.

The image is one thing and the human being is another. It’s very hard to live up to an image, put it that way.

The essential lesson I’ve learned in life is to just be yourself. Treasure the magnificent being that you are and recognize first and foremost you’re not here as a human being only. You’re a spiritual being having a human experience.

The truth is, I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let men sometimes fool themselves.

A person who is truly authentic doesn’t need to play a role in life, we think, but can simply be him – or herself.

There is more to sex appeal than just measurements. I don’t need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal, picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain.

Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are.

It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.

I am who I am. That’s why my friends and peers respect and appreciate me. I don’t change or cater my actions to fit my surroundings. I’m myself 24/7. People appreciate that.

I change my mind a lot. I usually don’t agree with what I say very much. I’m an awful liar.

Some people write heavily, some write lightly. I prefer the light approach because I believe there is a great deal of false reverence about. There is too much solemnity and intensity in dealing with sacred matters; too much speaking in holy tones.

Anger cannot be dishonest.

Yeah, I’m an open book.

Of course, when I say that human nature is gentleness, it is not 100 percent so. Every human being has that nature, but there are many people acting against their nature, being false.

I try to see the good in everybody, and I don’t care who people are as long as they’re themselves, whatever that is.

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.

Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.

If you think dealing with issues like worthiness and authenticity and vulnerability are not worthwhile because there are more pressing issues, like the bottom line or attendance or standardized test scores, you are sadly, sadly mistaken. It underpins everything.

I know a lot of artists say this, but it’s hard to put myself in a box. I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming form a special place. There’s no tricks.

Don’t make me into this airy-fairy, moralist, idealist because I’m not.

One thing about me is I try to be honest.

I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.

Whether I’m wearing lots of makeup or no makeup, I’m always the same person inside.

To the extent I am known, I think I am known as a person who expresses his opinion freely about things – and I was sensitive to the possibility that if I was seen taking money for saying nice things about a product, my comments and choices and opinions would become, understandably, suspect.

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

I think country music is popular – has been popular and will always be popular because I think a lot of real people singing about a lot of real stuff about real people. And it’s simple enough for people to understand it. And we kind of roll with the punches.

True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long.

There’s a gap between what I want to do, what I do on camera, and what gets edited. Right? So the goal is to try and close the gaps. What’s the biggest compliment is if I read a review and it’s exactly what I wrote down in my diary before ever filming it. That’s really cool. That’s the biggest signifier of closing the gaps.

It’s easier to aim to please and say what others want to hear than to form an opinion and fight for it, even if it means taking a risk or losing your job.

I don’t like it when people who are young act like they’re 40. That’s taking too much on. Putting up a shield and trying to act like you’re so mature or whatever – I don’t try to act mature. Some people might say I’m mature for my age, but it’s not something I’m trying to do, you know? I’m just me.

I’m sticking to the script, I’m putting that organic feeling back in the game.

I used to write random little stupid things when I was five, but then the first song I really wrote was one called ‚Fingers Crossed,‘ which is on SoundCloud.

I don’t feel much pressure to fit in. I never have. I’ve always just wanted to do my thing. I have really good friends and good family, and if I don’t fit in somewhere else, I fit in at home.

If you’re performing music that is not who you are or where you’re at, it is painful. It’s painful for the performer and for the audience.

What I see, what I went through, what a friend of mine may have went through, whatever – I rap about it.

Some of the stories I admire seem to zero in on one particular time and place. There isn’t a rule about this. But there’s a tidy sense about many stories I read. In my own work, I tend to cover a lot of time and to jump back and forward in time, and sometimes the way I do this is not very straightforward.

I do believe in God. But you won’t find me visiting temples every now and then. I believe in self-realization. Peace of mind matters a lot to me. What’s the point in doing something just for the sake of it? I’d rather do something I like doing as long as I’m being true to myself.

Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.