“I think, when all bands start, when you’re on your first album you have the benefit of hoovering up people who genuinely come across the music and really like it, but also those sort of ‘floating voters’ who just like pop music when they’re young.”

People think it’s a betrayal of authenticity if you do something different.

And its sonic connections, it’s a sense of harmony that I think we all have even if we don’t know how to express it – it’s something musical, it’s synapse connections in our brain.

My modus operandi has always been understatement and that just doesn’t really work in pop.

I feel closer to the artist I was when I was 19 now then I have done in other stages of my career.

I think you have to start taking a few risks and sometimes they don’t pay off.

Christmas moves us to think of others rather than of ourselves & directs our thoughts to giving.

When Mama starts to move across a room, people pay attention. You can never be sure she’s not going to grab you by the top of the head to steady herself. And she’s pretty free with that walking stick, too.

To live and die amongst foreigners may seem less absurd than to live persecuted or tortured by one’s fellow countrymen….

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

I think that what we want to do as we continue to move forward is look at the various points that have been made.

This time you’ve dug yourself an anchor too heavy to move ahead with.

When neither high purpose nor the categorical imperatives of religion will do, the only argument against suicide is life itself.

In life you are either growing or rotting. You’re moving forward or backwards; there is no standing still.