Something I’ve realized lately, to my shock, is that I am an optimist, in that I think humans are almost infinitely capable of self-change and self-modification, and that we really can build the future that we want if we’re smart about it.

The point about melody and beat and lyric is that they exist to engage you in a very particular way. They want to occupy your attention.

I have a definite talent for convincing people to try something new. I am a good salesman. When I'm on form, I can sell anything.

Rationality is what we do to organize the world, to make it possible to predict. Art is the rehearsal for the inapplicability and failure of that process.

I make a lot of pieces of music that I never release as CDs.

W]hat makes a work of art ‘good’ for you is not something that is already ‘inside’ it, but something that happens inside you.

Perhaps when music has been shouting for so long, a quieter voice seems attractive.