“I like narrative storytelling as being part of a tradition, a folk tradition.”

There’s an opera out on the turnpike, there’s a ballet being fought out in the alley.

More than rich, more than famous, more than happy .I wanted to be great.

You know, my music utilizes things from the past, because that’s what the past is for. It’s to learn from. It’s not to limit you, you shouldn’t be limited by it.

Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun. Oh, but mama, that’s where the fun is.

Every fool has a reason for feeling sorry for himself.

Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.

I guess there’s just a meanness in this world.

The first time I heard Bob Dylan, I was in the car with my mother listening to WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody’d kicked open the door to your mind.

I’m the kind of person, I think a lot about everything. Nothin’ I can do about it. It’s like, I’m a thinkin’ fool. That’s a big part of me.

It’s not the time in your life, it’s the life in your time.

We’re gonna play some pool, skip some school, act real cool, stay out all night, it’s gonna be alright.

I believe when your children are born that you are reborn in some fashion.

Talk about a dream, try to make it real.

Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed.

It’s a town full of losers And I’m pulling out of here to win.

I think life goes through a cycle of losing and refinding yourself all the time. Everyone has disappointments all the time, some of them pretty small, some of them pretty big.

I do a first draft as passionately and as quickly as I can. I believe a story is valid only when it’s immediate and passionate, when it dances out of your subconscious. If you interfere in any way, you destroy it.

In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.

One of the most rewarding moments of my career is when I’m speaking to a child who tells me they have the same speech impediment that I had to overcome and that they’re going to keep writing or sharing their voice after hearing my story.

When you stand and share your story in an empowering way, your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else.

Don’t get hung up on the hard times, the challenges. Tell your story by highlighting the victories. Because it’s your victories that will inspire, motivate, encourage other people to live their stories in grander ways.

Twenty-six letters, infinite stories to tell, nothing comes to mind.

It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. Your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. When you tell your story, you free yourself and give other people permission to acknowledge their own story.

If you ask a woman who she is, she’ll tell you who she serves and sometimes what she does. But that isn’t the whole story.