There is one tradition in America I am proud to inherit. It is our first freedom and the truest expression of our Americanism: the ability to dissent without fear. It is our right to utter the words, 'I disagree.' We must feel at liberty to speak those words to our neighbors, our clergy, our educators, our news media, our lawmakers and, above all, to the one among us we elect - President.

Literature gives us a window into other people's experiences in other places, in other times, so I thought it would be really interesting to investigate how different people had written about motherhood, and childhood.

I’ve always considered it a great privilege to be a musician, I’ve never lost sight of that.

I can't remove the autobiographical slant from the things I write. You always bring yourself into what you're writing.

I would say I'd rather dig a ditch, you know, do hard, manual labor than write lyrics.

The research phase was really fascinating - I'm not a closeted nerd, I'm an out-of-the-closet nerd.

Be true to yourself, and, um, don't worry about some large companies' quarterly profit index.