I guess my guitar parts are usually precise, but the execution of those parts is downright treacherous, since I'm not very good on guitar.

I always start with the lyrics, because starting with the music means the words will be bad.

I can't fool myself into thinking that musically I don't need other people, whether it's as a foil or just to come in and make real the ideas that are kind of vague and wispy in my head.

I'm not really sure that I have the same definition of things as other people. Like, when people talk about being "engaged" with the audience, I'm not exactly sure what they mean.

I don't banter with the audience, cause I don't have anything to say to them, and I'm not feeling any sense of ease or camaraderie when I'm on stage.

I like putting common expressions next to uncommon expressions. I'm sure in Poetry 101 there is a name for it, but it seems like you usually go one way or the other in rock music.

Kaputt was just a record that did really well for us, and therefore our record label and our booking agent said that we should go out and take our message to the world.

The more I abandon ideas of myself as a musician, the better a singer I become.

Once you feel like you can safely quit a melody, you are free to explore more important things.

I've never had any kind of work ethic. I've never sat down with the intention of writing a song.

I'm just kind of lazy and messed up and self-managed - self-mismanaged.

The words explain us all, each having a meaning in a meantime: every time for a lifetime.

A little reckless bravery may end up saving your life.

Work, which is considered an expression of a person’s value, also becomes a part of one’s spirituality and achieves the higher aim of the Supreme Good

Nothing is the mirror in which you see the world.

[He] fell right into the oldest conviction in the world-- that the girl you are in love with can't possibly be anything but true and honest.

The biggest sin in the world would be if I lost my love for the ocean.

I wonder if I could make an electric bass.

You can't make the other fellow feel important in your presence if you secretly feel that he is a nobody

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.

I've always wanted to be a songwriter and a storyteller and somebody who conveys a feeling to the listener or the viewer.