No matter what you do, if there's something you're afraid of, you need to break through it.

I started performing opera when I was 10 years old. I didn't perform as Zola Jesus until I was probably 18.

I don't know why people think I'm a Goth - that's a misconception.

You are born and then you die, but in between you can do anything you want. It's society that creates rules for us, but you can break out of that.

The most important thing for us to do as beings is to be aware of our position in the world on a micro and macro level.

I feel like humans are a disease. It's a hard thing to communicate in a pop song. I mean, who wants to hear that?

My music started as a way to break through weaknesses - like anxiety, which was completely taking over my whole life, where I could barely function.

I like to remind myself that everything is meaningless.

And my music is always such a release of what I feel inside, an impulse.

I know for sure that nothing matters.

I feel like I am alone when I am in the presence of those I love. It is so freeing and comfortable, you become one with them.

Hello, dinner. It’s me, I’m starving. And I know where you live.

As an actor, whether I'm playing Othello on stage or David Estes on 'Homeland, ' that ability to give into your imagination is something that I enjoy.

I'm not sexist, I'm just a realist.

I'm stronger than anything in my way. Holla!

I've had some dark nights of the soul, of course, but giving in to depression would be a sellout, a defeat.

It's through sheer will that I can sing.

From the first moment of life, men ought to begin learning to deserve to live.

When you use Tabasco in the marinade, it kind of infuses everything.

Whoever shall review his life, will find that the whole tenor of his conduct has been determined by some accident of no apparent moment.

We are doomed to failure without a daily destruction of our various preconceptions.