“It’s about being proud of who you are, being proud of your situation and just being stoked that things are always going to get better or always gonna get worse and that’s such a great thing. Every day is a new surprise.”

We definitely didn’t want it to be anything like our first or second records. We wanted to experiment more than we ever had and take any new idea and run with it as far as we could.

I mean, you can’t have sex until you’re married if you’re Mormon. The first time I had sex, my parents found out. They were listening in on the phone while I was talking about sex to my girlfriend. They freaked out, man. They both cornered me in my bedroom.

I’ll never be bothered if I don’t have a hit because you look at the songs that are hits and they’re none of my favourites. Just the fact that we do have fans waiting here, that’s exciting enough.

When people hear our record, they’re not going to be able to put us into the ‘New Metal’ category or the ‘pop-punk’ category or the ‘aggressive emo’ category. I think people will be able to take it for what it is.

If there is a God, he or she or it or whatever higher power there is is behind us so long as we’re using our music in an inspirational way. I’m here for a reason, and I was given a talent, so I’ll continue to try to use it.

When my body gets so overexerted with energy, I just keep going and going.

Sometimes kissing is better than sex. Especially kissing someone for the first time

When I hooked up with them I was still going to Narcotics Anonymous. But they were never into drugs. If it weren’t for the band, I think I’d still be getting high.

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that you only have one chance. You only have today to live-but you gotta take it and make it the best you can

Whether the color of your skin is black, white, yellow, brown or purple – the extent of this tragedy is so incredibly devastating that we had to do something.

We have this day to be alive. We better lay down and give up, or stand up and really make some worthwhile memories for ourselves. ‘Cause we’re not going to be alive forever

I just kind of thought about doing this my whole life. I never doubted myself once. I’ve always been singing, and I’ve always wanted to be on tour with a rock band.

We are the outcasts, we are the ones that are different, we are the ones that never got along with anyone else, we are the ones that went back to our rooms and put on our headphones and listened to those records that made us happy

You always just have to be the best that you can be. And if you know that in your heart, then that’s all that matters.

Being with him was like being alone underwater – everything was slow; nothing counted; I could not be harmed; I would feel dry and cold when I resurfaced.

I think the best advice came from Drew Barrymore, about always finding love in everything you do and keeping a positive attitude and being thankful.

Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art – the art of words.

My dad used to say, ‘Just be yourself and you’ll be fine,’ but it’s really, really true.

I have the happy circumstance of either being accused of political grandstanding on the one hand or cover-ups on the other.

That happens every time I get behind a guitar, regardless of what I’m saying, ’cause music is freedom and being free is the closest I’ve ever felt to being spiritual.

There is something very sublime, though very fanciful, in Plato’s description of the Supreme Being,–that truth is His body and light His shadow.