It's always been a gift with me, hearing music the way I do. I don't know where it comes from, it's just there and I don't question it.

Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.

It's not the note you play that's the wrong note - it's the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.

If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I'd spend it choking a white man. I'd do it nice and slow.

It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.

In music, silence is more important than sound.

I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.

Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery

Do not fear mistakes. There are none.

Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.

If you sacrifice your art because of some woman, or some man, or for some color, or for some wealth, you can't be trusted.

Don't let someone keep putting out the flame God keeps re-lighting, we all have a purpose. As a wing to a bird. As wind that goes the destiny over the sea.

Books in the YA genre, in particular, should use proper grammar because they're more of an example to young people than adults books are.

Just knowing you're not alone is often enough to kindle hope amid tragic circumstances.

We need to sharpen our focus & live to the point just like a pencil.

When I first got into the entertainment industry, I would always watch Rihanna and all those people, so I was like, 'Ooh, I have to be this.' So my mom was like, 'Just be yourself.'

Long-distance relationships are another way of avoiding intimacy.

We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.

Being in the presence of the "other" seems to show me who I am in a way that is really important to me. I feel radically more comfortable in Laos, say, than I do in Pennsylvania.

I always expect unexpected challenges.

Too young for woe, though not for tears.