I think, being a male singer, I always hate another great male singer's voice before I can love it, unless it's just really far from what I do.

You need a sanctuary. Somewhere where it doesn't feel like it's being tainted by everybody's opinions and other people's money. I think I'm kind of homesick right now.

I really wanted to focus on my songwriting, or songwriting with other people. I wanted to go learn from other people who were really good at the classic, more traditional idea of songwriting.

There's something really precious in that - if you try to tame something that's meant to be wild you wind up jeopardizing the nature of why it exists.

Smile, the worst is yet to come.

I enjoy writing in a lot of different styles, so I pushed to find that vicious place, or that vulnerable place, and let it exist as intensely as I could.

Everybody's able to pour into each other creatively, and pop into the studio and pop out. It feels like a community. As an artistic community I think it's really cool.

You must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work … You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success.

As a general rule, a reputation is built on manner as much as on achievement.

Teetotallers lack the sympathy and generosity of men that drink.

We have drugs to make women speak, but none to keep them silent.

All I ever wanted was to perform, make music, make videos.

All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them.

History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are.

High heels off; I'm feeling alive.

You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.

l can do very well without God both in my life and in my painting, but l cannot, ill as I am, do without something which is greater than l, which is my life — the power to create.