“I’m in a New York state of mind”

As an atheist you have to rationalize things… Then you have to try and make some sort of sense out of your problems. And if you try and find you can’t, you have no choice but to be good and scared — but that’s okay!

My songs are like my kids.

There’s nothing better than good sex. But bad sex? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is better than bad sex.

Don’t go changing, to try and please me You never let me down before.

Remember how I found you there alone in your electric chair, I told you dirty jokes until you smiled.

It’s alright, you can afford to lose a day or two

You may never understand How the stranger is inspired For he is not always evil, And he is not always wrong.

Videos destroyed the vitality of rock and roll. Before that, music said, “Listen to me.” Now it says, “Look at me.”

There’s a deep-seated paranoia that Americans have about not being Americans or something.

And you know that when the truth is told that you can get what you want or you can just get old.

Musicians want to be the loud voice for so many quiet hearts.

I don’t know why people thought I was retiring.

Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm – walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.

I don’t belong in limos or private jets or on stage with people cheering me but that’s what’s kept me grounded because I know it’s not right.

Call me a joker, call me a fool, right at this moment I’m totally cool.

You’ve got to be hard, like the rock in that old rock & roll.

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

This is how Americans think. You believe that if something terrible happens to someone, they must have deserved it.

We are experiencing a real confusion here in the United States, you know. Why is it OK to drink, but it’s not OK to take drugs?

The United States has even gone so far as to veto Security Council resolutions calling on all states to observe international law. That was in the 1980s under Reagan.

The United States and Britain loved him. He was supported until the last minute.

The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.

There will always be nations. The United States will last a long, long time.

I think first of all, the United States has got to adopt a policy of befriending and creating allies around the world.