“Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do.”

I was ready to quit music. It felt to me like music equalled death.

Wow, I get to wake up again? Ok. You have to make good with what you’ve got.

Through Kurt I saw the beauty of minimalism and the importance of music that’s stripped down.

Your personal history is a part of what happens with your hands and your head as you play music.

The most important thing for me is my family, and my health and happiness, and making sure everyone’s cool.

Never lose faith in real rock and roll music. Never lose faith in that. You might have to look a little harder, but it’s always going to be there.

I think people should feel encouraged to be themselves.

There’s always gonna be rock n’ roll bands, there’s always gonna be kids that love rock n’ roll records, and there will always be rock n’ roll.

There’s nothing I’d rather do than make music. It’s the love of my life.

If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s gathering people together to do something fun.

That’s one of the great things about music. You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they’ll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.

If it weren’t for the Beatles, I would not be a musician.

How come drummers leave their drumsticks on the dashboard of their car? So they can park in the handicapped spaces.

The human element of making music is what’s most important.

I’ve experienced great things, I’ve experienced great tragedies. I’ve done almost everything I could possibly ever imagine doing, but I just know that there’s more.

You look up to your heroes and you shouldn’t be intimidated by them; you should be inspired by them.

Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train.

Something that I’ve learned to love about myself is my freckles. I used to absolutely hate them; I even looked into ways I could get them removed.

If you can learn to use your mind as well as your powder puff, you will become more truly beautiful.

Learn to do the common things uncommonly well.

Both of them were very good and kind – the one who went to church and the one who didn’t. And no doubt from them I learned to like both Christians and sinners equally well.

The lessons one learns at school are not always the ones the school thinks it’s teaching.

It was terribly beautiful to Tess today, for since her eyes last fell upon it she had learnt that the serpent hisses where the sweet birds sing.

I had to learn how to function as a human being. And I really enjoyed that process.