I will obviously take on board everything from my past, I always do.

A certain death of an artist is overconfidence.

The first real thing I heard was Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King. That's where it all began for me.

I can't say I feel influenced by today's guitar players.

I didn't want to get attached to one guitar; I didn't want to have an instrument that was irreplaceable.

It all comes down to the density of the wood. Every guitar's different.

I go through about two Fender mediums a night because I don't pick straight down; it's sort of sideways, and it shaves them off.

I don't tend to have a favorite album; I tend to have favorite tracks. There are flaws in every album that spoil it for me.

I got a guitar when I was about 14, for a Christmas present, and went from there.

It's impossible to play a run with as much feeling as a single note. I've never been so much into runs as making single notes cry.

When you start believing you're something special, then you're not going to be striving to move forward.

Consequences need not be the obstacles that I dread, but the direction that I need.

Writing is not chewing your nails and picking your teeth, but a matter of public interest.

Hollywood has gone from the capital of conspicuous consumption to the cutting edge of conspicuous conservation.

As our own peace of mind grows, so the atmosphere around us becomes more peaceful.

In my life nothing goes wrong. When things seem to not meet my expectations, I let go of how I think things should be. It's a matter of not having any attachment to any fixed outcome.

If you try to breastfeed and it's not working, then you don't feel particularly good about yourself.

I have a soft spot for art that, in terms of subject matter and material, is in bad taste.

I don't come down on any simple place as a deletionist or a completionist.

Happiness is a choice; not just a matter of genes or good luck.

I spent almost 25 years as a foreign correspondent, and the world's primary problem is poverty.