“A lot of life is about how you feel relating to dealing with this person or that person”

I can remember being eight years old and having infinite possibilities. But life ends up being so much less that we thought it would be when we were kids, with relationships that are so empty and stupid and brutal.

When everybody loves me, I will never be lonely.

I’m not a spiritual person at all, but I do think that the world doesn’t have to be as lonely as it is.

If you’ve never stared off into the distance, then your life is a shame.

You get so used to doing it that you start to believe it’s simply what everyone does. It makes for an atmosphere of unwelcome that penetrates much of our modern life.

I’ve spent most of my life living in cities where people are obsessed with looking down on people from everywhere else.

There is nothing more important you can ever do for this world than to wake up and be a part of it.

If you wrap yourself in daffodils I will wrap myself in pain…

That’s where the songs come from: that’s what I’d most want people to understand. What sounds good or looks good, that’s nothing. The only worthwhile thing in art is seeing someone else’s heart.

You have to kind of shift the way you look at life when you’re in a group of people that you work with. It’s not so much, do they make you feel good when you’re around them all the time; it’s how can you make everyone feel comfortable together.

Losing fights, or even winning fights, can be heartbreaking, and you can throw that away, but the truth is that it does make our lives better.

People really need to show up early to hear Hollis Brown. They are just an unbelievable live band.

The group is the more important part, and you have to kind of shift the way you look at life when you’re in a group of people that you work with.

People ask me if I have stage fright. I say, “God, no, I’m completely comfortable there. I have rest-of-the-day fright.”

All my songs are where I am.

The nice thing about being on stage is it’s not that I know what to do, but I have a very clear feeling that anything I do is OK. All I’m up there to do is express how I feel. Any way I choose to do that is fine.

When you’re dealing with an ambivalent relationship, you’re constantly on guard, grappling with questions of trust.

The idea of it becomes a little freaky if you’re dealing with someone who has trouble differentiating between fantasy and reality, but that’s a concern no matter what kind of movie you’re dealing with.

Growing up with sexual abuse and having to be in gangs and dealing with my own trauma; finding the cultural identity when I was 16, and learning those traditional ways saved me from hurting myself.

The change should be concerning your belief, your morals, your actions, your dealings, your decisions, and your efforts.

I was truly dumbfounded at the very thought of dealing with such an essential and extensive subject.

I feel like I’ve been dealing with that building over the years because of the Broadway community, so I’m treating it in the same way – I’ve always tried to keep my personal life private. I didn’t get into this business for notoriety or fame. I don’t go to places to be seen and that’s not going to change.

The solution to a crisis pregnancy is not to kill the innocent baby but to deal with the mother’s values and her attitudes toward life.

A spoonful of sugar can be as helpful in dealing with foreign diplomats as it is in child psychology, for these are not unrelated fields.