“There’s a difference between music that’s original and music that’s retro. A lot of bands now are kind of retro 70s whether it’s Kraut-rock or… I’ve heard people suggest that we’re kind of retro 80s.”

I don’t think I had a specific moment when I thought, “I’m not going to play music anymore.” I just played less and got involved in other things.

It’s hard to go out in front of people with an acoustic guitar and improvise for 30 or 40 minutes, but I had a compulsion to do it. I just had to in a way that I can’t really explain.

I’m uptight in general, and it’s hard for me to play in a situation where I’m not rehearsed or I feel like I’m not prepared. So it’s always hard for me to come away from those and think it was the best thing I could do.

With Fred McDowell, I just love the way he articulates the notes. I’m hardly unique in that, but there’s just something about that that I love.

I did pull out my old Telecaster, and have been thinking I’d like to play that loud with a drummer. But I haven’t actually done that yet.

I definitely have a different perspective on music in general. But once I actually have a guitar in my hands, I think I disappear into the same black hole that I was disappearing into when I was 15.

So a lot of traditional rock sounds, you can’t play them. But to be honest, there was no particular intention when I started playing with four strings. It just worked out that way and it sounded cool.

With a four-string, the middle range is less of an option. That kind of 5th that you play on those A and D strings isn’t there.

If you see what you do each day as your way of loving the world and helping it heal, then life gets to be a lot different. The difference between burning up and burning out is the difference between loving what you are doing and not loving it.

The judgment may be compared to a clock or watch, where the most ordinary machine is sufficient to tell the hours; but the most elaborate alone can point out the minutes and seconds, and distinguish the smallest differences of time.

The fundamental difference between the mystery story and the ghost story is the fact that a mystery demands a solution for its effectiveness; a ghost story is necessarily unsolvable; the reader must be willing to accept the fact that nothing is proved.

Let us show the world that a difference of opinion upon medical subjects is not incompatible with medical friendships; and in so doing, let us throw the whole odium of the hostility of physicians to each other upon their competition for business and money.

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option.

If we make every attempt to increase out knowledge in order to use it for human good, it will make a difference in us and in our world.

And that’s it; that’s why I want to teach; that’s the one and only compensation: to make a permanent difference in the life of a child.

The difference between trying and doing is one leads to success, while the other leads to excuses.