I really love jazz, but I will never be a jazz musician as much as I dream. But, I think that the jazz music I love is there in my music.

I like pastels and lighter shades on darker skins. I feel like it lifts everything and accentuates being chocolate.

I respect hippos. They just look the way they do; they can't do anything about it, but they don't seem bothered.

I love church buildings, particularly cathedrals, and I like living in spaces that remind me of music or evoke that creative energy.

My songs are very personal, which means they are fantastically therapeutic to write, but performing them night after night is emotionally draining.

Who made you the center of the universe?

Taxi drivers used to ask me what kind of music I did, and I'd say, 'Well, it's kind of jazz, soul, classical' - but that makes no sense to anyone.

My parents encouraged us to commit to things, so if we wanted to learn an instrument, it was all the grades and all the theory.

I write songs from the heart, and I don't hold back.

I always said when I was younger, I wanted to write film music, and I think that's what my ultimate dream is.

You don't have to aim to be the best of everything, thinking that one day you're going to be the top of the world; I don't think it exists.

I wish i could tell you what i feel for you... nothing seems right not even you... i wish i could ask him to make everything normal...

You should hear me on my own. It's horrendous.I saw Deep Purple live once and I paid money for it and I thought, Geez, this is ridiculous.

[Fan In Lobby from Stardust Memories] that was just after The Dain Curse. My other big uncredited role from back then.

To be the best in your field is a great ambition, and requires discipline and a huge amount of effort. The athletes who possess this drive are the ones I am attracted to.

Stand-up comedy is the most relaxing thing I do. If I want to unwind and de-stress, I go out and do stand-up, often several shows in a night.

I hardly need to abstract things, for each object is unreal enough already, so unreal that I can only make it real by means of painting.

With the young generation, there are even more women than men making movies right now.

Power gravitates to the man who knows how.

To know the whole world is nothing when it is compared to knowing your own inner mystery of life.

Any film is about heroism: the triumph of good over evil. If you look back at my films, you will see that as a recurring theme.