Be the best at what you do. Get to know more about your field than anybody alive.

I'm not a comedian. I'm not a show host. I'm a musician. That's why I've turned down offers to host the Grammy Awards and the American Music Awards. Is it really entertaining for me to get up there and crack a few weak jokes and force people to laugh because I'm Michael Jackson, when I know in my heart that I'm not funny?

I want people to hear or watch something I've done and feel that I've given it everything I've got.

The magic, the wonder, the mystery and the innocence of a child’s heart are the seeds of creativity that will heal the world.

You know, let's put it this way, if all the people in Hollywood who have had plastic surgery, if they went on vacation, there wouldn't be a person left in town.

It's [music composition] the most effortless thing in the world because you don't do anything. I hate to say it like that, but it's the truth.

The press has made up so much...God...awful, horrifying stories...it has made me realize the more often you hear a lie, I mean, you begin to believe it.