There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed.

He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.

It is good to express a thing twice right at the outset and so to give it a right foot and also a left one. Truth can surely stand on one leg, but with two it will be able to walk and get around.

Lenience will operate with greater force, in some instances than rigor. It is therefore my first wish to have all of my conduct distinguished by it.

I learned from my dog long before I went to Gombe that we weren’t the only beings with personalities. What the chimps did was help me to persuade others.

I looked the people of Louisiana in the eye and told them exactly what I thought in terms that normal people use.

Words are more powerful than some noises. Noises won’t last long. Lyrics are so important, and people don’t realise that.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

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.

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.

A man’s true character comes out when he’s drunk.

The major advances in speed of communication and ability to interact took place more than a century ago. The shift from sailing ships to telegraph was far more radical than that from telephone to email!

I can be a cruel person.

My friends tease me about the fact that if someone seems bad or shady or like they have a secret, I find them incredibly interesting.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

The more you explain it, the more I don’t understand it.

The first time you say something, it’s heard. The second time, it’s recognized, and the third time it’s learned.

I do have tatoos, and I do wear leather, but there are other sides of me, that my film express.

At home I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.

Only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. One is to let her think she is having her own way, and the other is to let her have it.

Character is always known. Thefts never enrich; alms never impoverish; murder will speak out of stone walls.

This thing that I do with caring about the message in my music, it’s not separate from my work as a commercial artist; they’re totally one and the same. I’m always going to be thinking about what my voice means.

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.

Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.

A speech idiosyncrasy, in the same way as an air quote, is really justifiable only if it’s employed very sparingly and if the user consciously intends to be using it.

People like to hear the word ‚love.‘

I’m terrified of losing my voice.

Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.

Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

People who can’t be witty exert themselves to be devout and affectionate.

Be not a slave of words.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

One’s past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.

Understanding is a two-way street.

If you can’t answer a man’s arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.

I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I’m not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does.

Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now or as quickly as possible, because otherwise the bleeding will not end.

When your mother asks, ‚Do you want a piece of advice?‘ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.

Silence is safer than speech.

Don’t say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.

Never marry someone in hope that they’ll change later.

An honest man’s the noblest work of God.

It’s a fact that more people watch television and get their information that way than read books. I find new technology and new ways of communication very exciting and would like to do more in this field.

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

In a certain way, it’s the sound of the words, the inflection and the way the song is sung and the way it fits the melody and the way the syllables are on the tongue that has as much of the meaning as the actual, literal words.

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.

All our words from loose using have lost their edge.

Tell me what you like and I’ll tell you what you are.

Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.

Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.

Taste is the only morality. Tell me what you like and I’ll tell you what you are.

In real life, I’m a really smiley person. I smile when I talk and I laugh.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

When I was a kid, I never did funny things to get attention. I was never a funny person. I was never, like, ‚Oh, wow. I could say this some day on stage.‘

Woman begins by resisting a man’s advances and ends by blocking his retreat.

One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man’s laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.