I think more things are becoming socially acceptable. I think that just by having more media, whether that's TV or Internet, we're able to see more things.

I was home-schooled, was always very close with my mom and was very straight-laced and square. I was never the rebellious one, and I never threw hissy fits.

I was listening to a lot of Norwegian black metal and death metal. There's a great history to Norwegian black metal. That music is very dark and violent, but it's also beautiful.

I'm learning with the older that I get that some feelings are just universal and that I'm not the only one who hates their hair or their life at times.

It's really hard to see yourself and to recognize that you are a human being like everybody else. You just think everybody's judging you.

Sometimes I laugh with my parents, and sometimes I yell at them, and both are therapeutic.

For me, the dumbest rule is that you can't chew gum in school. For some reason, chewing gum for me gets my brain going.

I usually get my lyrics when I let my mind wander, when you're not really awake, but not yet fully asleep. I keep an open notebook by my bed and then just write whatever comes to me.

I want more awareness of humanity in this world.

I'm so used to swimming with the piranhas. And they're really not that bad.

It's very scary to allow the world to see you.

A sacred spiritual-life is the greatest gratification

For me music is a vehicle to bring our pain to the surface, getting it back to that humble and tender spot where, with luck, it can lose its anger and become compassion again.

Develop your reflective will and gain better insight before you say or do something.

I'm really much better at asking questions than answering them, since asking questions is like a constant deflection of oneself.

I don't want to say the wrong thing, which I always do. I think I do better when I sing.

The author of McCarthyism was given the distinction of addressing the Republican National Convention. This strikes terror in the hearts of honest men.

I love religions and find them fascinating, and I find Judaism very beautiful. It's enriched my life enormously.

Mel [Bochner] sets a very high standard. He expects only the best and most thoughtful and rigorous examinations, not only of the history of art but your own practice.

Human language is nothing like the signalling systems of other animals.

Thus, the poet's word is beginning to strike forcefully upon the hearts of all men, while absolute men of letters think that they alone live in the real world.