If I'm walking down the street and someone stops me and says, "Oh! A song that you wrote meant a lot to me, and I listened to it after I went to my sister's funeral," that's when it hits me.

The good thing about working alone is I get a lot done and I can experiment more. The bad thing is I miss out on the gregarious, social way that most musicians work.

One simple word: ugh. Is something still considered a conspiracy if it's played out right under our noses?

My reason for becoming a vegetarian was simple: I loved (and love) animals

I'm envious of people who can sleep as long as they want. I have the circadian rhythm of a farmer.

The good thing about not being drop-dead gorgeous is that as time passes, I don't have much to worry about. I have friends who are actors and every day they look in the mirror with trepidation.

Could you look an animal in the eyes and say to it, 'My appetite is more important than your suffering'?

I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.

Ignorance is the parent of fear.

Dogs have boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.

I like noise. It's always puzzled me why one of the goals of contemporary recording is to get rid of noise and to eliminate any element of a performance.

I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don't even know it.

What does it matter how many lovers you have if none of them gives you the universe?

I cannot even remember a time before being conscious of James Bond.

Art is inside of you; express yourself.

My ancestors were fighters, something I have inherited.

If the Americans do not want to support us anymore, let them go, get out! Let them forget their humanitarian promises!

[To write poems] I think it's important to do research, and research mostly is going to come from books, so all of your reading is potentially helpful to your poetry.

There are times when you just get down, you feel like nobody likes you. We're in high school forever. It's just what we do with it.