I feel the reasons my songs might seem dark is because of how I viewed the situations I was in and it was just something I always felt like documenting.

Sometimes my hands they don’t feel like my own; I need someone to love, I need someone to hold.

I have some vivid memories of walking around as a child with a cassette tape.

I like what I like, I don't like what I don't like, and I'm very bad at toning myself down.

I never was the front man in any bands I played in when I was in college, and I always learned music by myself at home.

You get one chance to make an impression and coasting through is a disservice.

I didn't start playing music really until I was 18/19, so it was a relatively new thing. I didn't play much music in school.

I'm very ambitious, musically - I want to create great things, not mediocre work.

I want to talk about things that are tangible and real to me, but I also want to do them in a way that's poetic and artistic.

With music, it feels natural that, in my head, I can pull things apart and then put them back together very quickly.

I was never a 'sit down with a notepad and write lyrics' kind of person.

Once you figure out what you want in life—expect nothing less.

You must have a vivid imagination of what you seek.

Butcher, baker, candlestick maker – many are unaware of the true role they play in Reality.

I always think of Meryl [Streep] for everything now. There really aren't many actresses around who are truly lucid the way she is.

What matters most is not the idea, but the capacity to believe in it completely.

Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be.

Who hath not heard the rich complain Of surfeits, and corporeal pain? He barr'd from every use of wealth, Envies the ploughman's strength and health.

Clamorous pauperism feastest While honest Labor, pining, hideth his sharp ribs.

Live simply so others may simply live.

The best rules to form a young man are: to talk little, to hear much, to reflect alone upon what has passed in company, to distrust one's own opinions, and value others that deserve it.