I think there is such a valid concept as "serious music," meaning that if you don't take it seriously, you don't get it all.

Serious music isn't listened to in a casual setting. You don't want to listen to that in headphones on the subway.

Never try to do anything artistic when you're feeling something overwhelming. It's like driving a car: If you're experiencing road rage, pull over.

If you start out with a song sounding like Britney Spears, and you end up with a song sounding like Pauline Oliveros, you'd better have pretty good liner notes explaining what on earth you mean.

Well, there are certainly original things to say. But I'm not sure that a pop song is the appropriate format to say them in.

There's a whole kind of melancholy that you can only attain with reverb. That's an example of a technology introducing a whole new meaning.

At first I was laboring under the impression that Chinese lyrics didn't rhyme. That turned out to be untrue - they don't rhyme in translation.

I can imagine lyrics becoming better written by smart machines rather than stupid musicians. Songwriters generally have nothing to say. They may as well be replaced by machines.

My mother says I have boring percussion.

When you're making a singular pop song, you don't really need any subject matter. You just sort of say, "Uh, I love you." And then you try to figure out some rhyme for that, and there never is one.

I'm not too sure if I have a very smart approach to revealing my life. Luckily, I doubt if many people really care about my life that much.

In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.

It is undoubtedly true, though it may seem paradoxical,--but, in general, those who are habitually employed in finding and displaying faults are unqualified for the work of reformation.

The populace may hiss me, but when I go home and think of my money, I applaud myself.

I'm starting to realize there's no stopping us now. An idea, a feeling, a movement can't just be squashed. It's impossible now.

He who has heard the Word of God can bear his silences.

The time is gonna fly! You better make sure you're the pilot!

Being fresh is more important than having money.

A man without makeup is like a cake without icing.

If you can't recognize the man in the mirror, it is time to step back and see when you stopped being yourself.

I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before.