Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge.

You're not going to be persistent and tenacious enough if you don't love what you're doing. If it's not something that excites you, that appeals to you deep down inside.

I don't want to promote paranoia. It's not like wow, everybody is after me. You know that's not going to be very powerful. A person like Stalin was like that and he was powerful, but it ended up completely destroying him because he couldn't trust anyone.

When it comes to mastering a skill, time is the magic ingredient.

I just think there's something in the non-fiction form that allows you to see things clearly, if you're patient.

The real poetry and beauty in life comes from an intense relationship with reality in all its aspects. Realism is in fact the ideal we must aspire to, the highest point of human rationality.

The music business is just the worst as far as Machiavellian, sharky, evil games going on, as far as manipulation.