Write what you feel. Write because of that need for expression.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again.

A songwriter should have friends who are similarly interested; should move about in the milieu of work he has chosen for himself.

Love is the reason you were born.

I'm in the mood for love, simply because you're near me. Funny, but when you're near me I'm in the mood for love.

A song must move the story ahead. A song must take the place of dialogue. If a song halts the show, pushes it back, stalls it, the audience won't buy it; they'll be unhappy.

A song doesn't just come on. I've always had to tease it out, squeeze it out. 'No thesaurus can give you those words, no rhyming dictionary. They must happen out of you.