I think one of the best things you can do is write really sad songs that touch some semblance of... I guess 'hope' is the right word?

I don't think anyone wants to do the same thing over and over again.

My songs, well, they are sad, but in all of them the person singing them - me or whoever - is actually still trying and hasn't given up yet.

I don't really need to appeal to some stockbroker, and I always sort of root for the underdog. I probably consider all that when I'm writing, but it's not in the forefront of my brain.

I think you just have to have some rapport with the song.

As a producer you can be more objective about the songs because you didn't write them.

It's hard to write any good song. It seems more rewarding, or maybe just easier, to write sad ones.

I don't like to think about stuff that's boring.

In music, you learn a lot of things when you don't know what you're doing.

If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also...but of course if you were able to stand soberly after the first slap.

Nothing is secret which shall not be made manifest.

I like the possibility of failure. I don't want to be in a comfortable zone.

You pick people, and they pick you sometimes. It's especially great to connect with people you think you have nothing in common with.

I'm kind of a gossip hound, but watching the media whip the small fires into giant forest fires so that they can cover the result is infuriating.

Music, it's an emotion; if you're just a puppet, how can you put your soul in what you do? For my part, I believe that I put my soul to it, so I get angry when people think that what I do is plastic.

Our greatest concern is moving away from Christ as Lord.

My children grew up very resourceful and strong in spite of them having to live with different families and that I had to drag them all over the country with me.

In some tiny, tiny way I am part of history, but I am also able to help people.

Time is the best appraiser of scientific work, and I am aware that an industrial discovery rarely produces all its fruit in the hands of its first inventor.