“Just because you have a hit doesn’t mean you’re good [at music]. Just means you got a hit.”

I’m a living sunset, lightning in my bones.

Take my hand when you are worried Take my hand when you’re alone Take my hand and let me guide you Take my hand to lead you home.

Children come running to the truth But you’ve got to peel the skin to get the fruit And while one’s living high another’s grieving But what’s sweet by morning is bitter by the evening Oh – What’s sweet by morning is bitter by the evening.

People say, “How do you write songs?” I say, “Patience.” I may have a track that’s hot, but no words. I’ll just let it sit for years, because I know they’re going to meet. They’ll find it.

As long as someone else controls your history the truth shall remain just a mystery

I want to try to not be the child that had to go through too much too young. I want to be who I am now and not who I was then.

There’s so much there, there’s so much to heal for.

The lifetime we’ve left behind with strangers Promises and lies both have their dangers. I just can’t be wrong enough and I can’t hide for long enough So far away, but I still feel your pain.

I really feel there’s no limitation on what this band can do in the studio or on the stage. That’s an empowering feeling – that we can bring a song to life.

Life’s the longest picture you’re ever gonna take.

If it comes out sounding like Dixieland jazz or classical or punk or rock or even slightly metal, that’s because that’s where I’m going to find inspiration.

Sometimes it’s lightning in a bottle and you got the song. But oftentimes it shows up.

With so many people to love in my life, why do I worry about one?

You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

The good news is at this point as I get older, the load has gotten heavier but my shoulders have gotten wider because I’ve gotten happier so it’s a damn good thing.

When you hear Doc Watson singing Amazing Grace, something else enters the room.

The fact that there are people who criticize me doesn’t mean that people hate me.

Diplomacy means all the wicked devices of the Old World, spheres of influence, balances of power, secret treaties, triple alliances, and, during the interim period, appeasement of Fascism.

Egypt is kind of like the Hollywood of the Middle East. I mean, we had cinema maybe decades before the other Arab countries ever got independence.

Living with integrity means… behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values.

The Jihad is not just a way of testing yourself but also means using violence to spread Islam.

Everyone lives the way she knows best. What I mean by ‘their happiness’ is living a life untouched as much as possible by the knowledge that we are really, all of us, alone. That’s not a bad thing.

The land gets inside of us; and we must decide one way or another what this means, what we will do about it.

Unlike multiculturalism, cultural pluralism doesn’t just mean diversity but also togetherness – primarily the understanding of the rules of the game – the European values structure.