There is nothing people can throw at me to say: Do this, do that.

Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man.

All I can say to the others is, 'Look out, we're on our way.

After years of piecemeal reform the current welfare system is complex and unfair.

We do not celebrate people who have made success out of serious hard work.

A system that was originally designed to support the poorest in society is now trapping them in the very condition it was supposed to alleviate.

Over the years the political establishment has frowned if a mainstream politician mentions marriage.

I went up to the top of the career ladder and I came down again, I am past all that.

That thing, 'You must stay together for the kids,' is out of fashion but is right. It's not arguing parents that children don't like, it is having one parent.

I am not going to go round trying to make people say 'Wow!'... I'm not going to play Hollywood lookalikes.

No I'm not a great believer in getting back over things and saying if only, or if, or buts because I don't think we actually get anywhere on that.

Once you get people laughing they're listening and you can tell them almost anything.

I think the feelings in my music were suggested to me before I even had the ability to play music.

Replace fear-based thinking with love-based thinking.

It's not a question of happiness, it's a requirement. Consider the alternative.

I'm just writing a story that I want to read.

I feel like at the Olympics I gave the best performance of my life and I wasn't rewarded for that as an athlete. Yes, my fans and my mom were happy about it, but I didn't win that gold medal.

When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.

When men break up they want to remain friends. Why? Why can't they just get lost?

When I look back on everything I've done, it all somehow makes sense to me. But it doesn't make sense when you're actually doing it.

If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern.