I was one of several songwriters I think interviewed [for Moana]. I'm a huge fan of Disney animated movies, and I've always wanted to write an animated score since I was a little kid.

Everyday has the potential to be the greatest day of your life

I'm past patiently waitin,' I'm passionately smashin' every expectation, every action's an act of creation.

I try to let my decisions be guided not by what I think will succeed or fail, but what I'm going to learn from that process.

When I get called in for stuff for Hollywood, I get to be the best friend of the Caucasian leadIf I want to play the main guy, I have found, I have to write it.

You can't control the success or failure of a thing you work on. You can only control the thing you work on.

The distance between where I am and where I want to be seems impossibly large.

Ed Koch once said that New York City is where immigrants come to audition for America. That's what happened to my parents; that's what happened to me.

If you're thinking about the idea in the shower. If you're thinking about the idea while you're walking your dog, there's probably something to it.

I think if you want to make a recipe for making a writer, have them feel a little out of place everywhere, have them be an observer kind of all the time. And that's a great way to make a writer.

I'm not going to hang out with celebrities, I'm not going to parties. I have two songs due for Moana next week, and I'm going to go and spend some time with Maui and Moana in the ocean, in my mind.

People are more likely to remember the great social interaction they had with a colleague than the great meeting they both attended.

It helps if you don’t think of them as human. More than one officer has called this job pest control.

I may be Anti-Big Government, but only because I am Pro-Human.

My style has evolved because I was one of the guys that would "geek chic" it every now and then. Now I'm just more into whatever works for me. I think that's just age.

My priority will be making sure my family is happy and settled.

I think one country with nuclear weapons is one country too many.

It is important not to confuse race and religion.

And I flunked anger management the moment I put the counselor through a stone wall. You might want to keep that in mind. [Thorn]

You can either be a Host to God, or a Hostage to your ego!