But at this phase of my life, I want to write and not have to think about whether a song is going to be a hit. I want to explore the music that inspires me, and I don't want to ape myself.

Rock and roll doesn't allow you to grow up - especially if you're not trying very hard to.

The thing is, unfortunately, I write the best songs when I'm miserable.

You are only as big as your experiences.

I can't read sheet music, I have to just listen to it, and then just go for it.

Computers and the Internet have made it really easy to rant. It's made everyone overly opinionated.

Making an album should be an honest experience. It shouldn't be about trying to gauge where popular music is today; it should be about artistic expression and putting down what you want to put down.

Sing the song or keep it inside.

I tend to get my hands into all these other things and all these distractions, and after a while I start feeling depleted.

I prefer a three-piece suit myself. Very sixties rock and roll. But they're not too quirky. Businessmen could wear them.

Writing the songs and producing the songs and arranging them and recording them is your canvas and your palette and your brush.

A DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children

Christianity is living hope.

The trouble with most of us is that we'd rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.

I have lived in the United States and I know the might of their industrial complex. The United States is a sleeping giant and I am afraid that our attack has awakened it.

What you do [to provide better aid is] you shut up. You never arrive in a community with any ideas.

Diffidence in an officer is a good mark because he will always endeavor to bring himself up to what he conceives to be the full line of his duty.

I read a lot. I liked a tremendous number of poets and writers. The person whose work I liked the most was Joyce.

I do not seek redemption from the consequences of my sin. I seek to be redeemed from sin itself. Until I have attained that end, I shall be content to be restless.

One cannot understand... the universality of laws of nature, the relationship of things, without an understanding of mathematics. There is no other way to do it.

Gravity was something you could beat; all it took was hydrogen, hot air, or even a bit of rope. But being a girl was a miserable, never-ending struggle.