The main thing that I've learned, artistically, is that if I'm in pain and feeling the budding of anger - if I absolutely feel like I need to write a song about it, I'll either need to transform that anger into something positive, or I'll just need to throw the song away. Because eventually, I'm going to want to transcend that pain and that anger.

When you're in pain, you're genuinely very, very alive, and that's beautiful. Especially emotional pain.

It's so rare that I'll read or even watch an interview. I don't want to, either. I don't want to see other people's comments.

I think fun is one of the best gifts we can give to each other. If everyone was having fun we'd be in good shape.

Politics, poverty, riches, etc - these are but backdrops for the grand cinema, the opera: the glory of your life. Sure, change the backdrops, make them better, but it is this inside-ness that matters most. Nothing else, at the last breath, matters, but your very own poetry. The glory of living.

I think that when you're open, you're at your most powerful.

Physical pain is problematic because it's very difficult to transcend that. Sometimes you're just in physical pain, and that's a bummer. Even then, there are beautiful things involved in the healing of that. I've experienced some.