“I’ve gotten to the point where I realize that I need to tell my truth in music and not walk around blabbing my mind.”

I’m aware that I’m very fringe, and it’s nice that way.

You can’t really control how people hear stuff. It’s hard to remember that. I have to let go of it.

I do think that when you make repeated mistakes, it’s usually because you’re just not coming to grips with something.

My job is to be some sort of music/lyric psychic, to figure out that that’s the right song to not fight the lyric.

I feel like a quote out of context.

There is still some art in pop music. But it can’t happen if you’re not inspired.

Next door, there’s an old man who lived to his nineties and one day passed away in his sleep. And his wife, she stayed for a couple of days and passed away. I’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong.

I could probably live in Bali the rest of my life and completely live in the sticks and have a f – king moped and make a record every couple of years and not step in public and break even like I do anyway. That’s really tempting.

You never know when you put out an album that’s unique whether it’ll get beat up for it or not.

I’m older than I was, and I’m still washed-up, and I haven’t changed my music one iota. It’s just much easier to do this when people are being nice to you.

The nice thing about age is worrying less and less about what people think.

I think alcohol is a good drug for me when I’m writing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with it. I can stop for a few weeks, so I think it’s okay. I don’t think it’s good for my liver, but I do love it. It’s a huge part of my life, and it makes me happy.

Everyone, when you’re a teenager and you’re growing up, you do feel like your life is dramatic enough to be on a TV screen, but we know that it’s not.

People learn at the rate they are going to learn.

The cruelest lies are often told without a word The kindest truths are often spoken, never heard

Why would I want to sound like Joni Mitchell? I’ve got Joni Mitchell records, and they’re great, and I couldn’t possibly be that good.

Every state need not start with state policing if they can’t fund it.

If you can learn to convey what you express in the first rough sketch, you’re really saying what you need to say in that.

Poetry is very crafted. You can’t have too many words. It needs compression. It has to be spare, just the right number of words.

When you manage people, you must first convince them they need managing. So you create the problems and then let the people cry for solutions.

I don’t need to apologize for my behavior you need to apologize for not understanding.

Wherever I am, let me never forget to distinguish want from need

Far more gardens fail because the gardener is absent or not paying attention than because he or she lacks erudition. Yes, you need to know your ABCs [the basics], but the more you garden, the more you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t.

Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing.