Being alive and understanding that and making the decision to actually live take a lot of courage.

It bothers me that no one has the patience to deal with someone who is just sad.

I think if I were living in a utopian world, then it wouldn't be political commentary; it would be about daffodils.

It's a strange life... you really don't know how you will impact people or how things will play out.

Sometimes it's better to live through someone's work than the person themselves, and to realise that every human being is flawed, but through art they can be perfect.

I just write what comes to me. I didn't sit down and say ok, here is my statement. It's just a song that has a shout out.

Generally I try to read anything but indie rock journalism or anything about music at all, especially in the summer.

The writing process is very much like being in a dark tunnel, and you don't really know what you will end up with until you have created it.

Until the day we die, our lives are unwritten, which is sometimes a terrifying thought.

It's not my fault that people are perverts.

Lots of people take the option of not activating their own life, of really letting it happen.

The challenge for us is to find some response that actually inspires change rather than clinging to the old ways that cause resentment, and more importantly, distract from the real problem.

Not to be able to find one’s ‘own’ faults

I've spent a lot of time and money trying to keep my anger in control.

Always firmly believing in a higher power, I have also always been in search of a spiritual peace.

It isn't often that the logic behind a policy is so clear. But when it comes to the value of educating girls, the evidence speaks for itself.

Development of character consists solely in moving toward self-sufficiency.

Sincerity is the eventual deception of all great men.

I realise there's an innate paradox in promoting oneself on the one hand and saying, 'Oh, I don't want to be famous,' on the other.

Boswell is the first of biographers.