I don't know that I'm unique in that people relate to my music, but I would hope people would say that I'm honest and that I do the best work I can possibly do instead of coasting.

Ugly ducklings don't turn into swans and glide off down the lake. Whether your sunglasses are on or off, you only see the world you make.

The consolidation of the music business has made it difficult to encourage styles like the blues, all of which deserve to be celebrated as part of our most treasured national resources.

Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.

I never saw music in terms of men and women or black and white. There was just cool and uncool.

There were so many great music and political scenes going on in the late '60s in Cambridge. The ratio of guys to girls at Harvard was four to one, so all of those things were playing in my mind.

Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.

Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet - nobody taxes the sun yet.

It's incredible to see labor unions and environmentalists getting together to stop the corporate mentality that destroys both jobs and the environment.

We can live in fear or act out of hope.

It's always enjoyable to listen to a friend's work, but if it doesn't resonate with you, then you can just appreciate it and it inspires you in its own way.

Are you still upset I murdered our parents? - Tommy to Danny

Everything is political. I will never be a politician or even think political. Me just deal with life and nature. That is the greatest thing to me.

I speak with dogs frequently. They don't really talk, but I feel they're communicating.

Emily Dickinson liked to shock people. She liked to break rules. There was a kind of rebellious freedom in her inner world.

The post office says they're raising the price of stamps by one cent because they need to upgrade their equipment. Apparently, they're going from semi-automatics to uzis.

I could do a franchise for the end of everything. 'The End of Dogs,' 'The End of Cats.'

John legend is a nickname that somebody started calling me a while ago and part of it is 'cos I sound like an old man when I sing.

I never appear in any of your work, come to think of it, Calvin [Trillin]. And I look.

Simple people... are very quick to see the live facts which are going on about them.

You'd type like hell. I spent $9.80 and in nine days I had Fahrenheit 451.