I go through a lot of depression, and I know other people do, too, but I have an outlet that so many people don’t. If you have that inside of you and can’t get it out, what do you do?

Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.

I try never to wear my own clothes, I pretend I’m someone else.

I’ve had some dark nights of the soul, of course, but giving in to depression would be a sellout, a defeat.

I’ve often said there’s nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.

Perhaps one of the most difficult things for us to do is to choose a notable and joyous dress for men. There would be more joy in life if we were to accustom ourselves to use all the beautiful colours we can in fashioning our own clothes.

I was very worried about my mother, growing up – a lot. I do not want my children to be worried about me.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

An asylum for the sane would be empty in America.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help… Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.

It’s not just a matter of whether you support Obama or Romney. It’s who they have coming with them. I always keep my powder dry, as they say in the military.

Music helps me tell my story. That’s where I can really be heard. But there’s so much focus on the things that aren’t music.

We all want to be famous people, and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.

I think sometimes the critics want me to beat people down, and that’s not in me. I want to lift people up.

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance – the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it; better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen.

Preparation for a mission is important. A mission is a voluntary act of service to God and humankind. Missionaries support that privilege with their personal savings. Parents, families, friends, and donors to the General Missionary Fund may also assist.

It’s very unnatural to be someone for so many people. But of course it’s very nice.

I don’t think of myself as an artist. I’m just a guy who can write.

The Qataris have cut off support for the most extreme elements of terrorist organizations.

It doesn’t take much to make me angry.

I have the people behind me and the people are my strength.

I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.

I don’t think about the end game. I’ve got lots to occupy my mind. It’s the rage that keeps me going.

The sovereign cure for worry is prayer.

Idleness is the parent of psychology.

There are so many emotions that you’re feeling, you can get stifled by them if you’re feeling them all at once. What I try to do is take one moment – one simple, simple feeling – and expand it into three-and-a-half minutes.

I think that I do feel that my nature is to express what this self, this particular self at this time, experiences in the world. And that is so organic – I use this metaphor a lot but I’ll use it again – it’s like a pine tree producing pine cones, or a blackberry bush producing blackberries – it’s just what happens with this being, now.

I wish myself to be a prop, if anything, for my songs. I want to be the vehicle for my songs. I would like to colour the material with as much visual expression as is necessary for that song.

The mind of America is seized by a fatal dry rot – and it’s only a question of time before all that the mind controls will run amuck in a frenzy of stupid, impotent fear.

If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can’t control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I’m just not going to go outside the house. I’m going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.

All my adult life people have been helping me.

In Germany, they all thought I was a bit mental, very emotional.

When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.

Hair is about when you’re younger. I am my hair.

Become slower in your journey through life. Practice yoga and meditation if you suffer from ‚hurry sickness.‘ Become more introspective by visiting quiet places such as churches, museums, mountains and lakes. Give yourself permission to read at least one novel a month for pleasure.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

I feel the emotion that life conjures up and the songs I write get me closer to my feelings and realising who I am. It’s a natural process.

I’ve been asked this question so many times, do you feel you need to write a book for adults? No, I don’t need to write a book for adults.

When I got depressed, I watched Bruce Lee movies. I learned everything from Bruce Lee.

It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.

I know what I believe, I know what I want to do, and I’m just comfortable saying it, and laying it out there.

Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.

I never went to school more than six months in my life, but I can say this: that among my earliest recollections, I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand.

Taste is the only morality. Tell me what you like and I’ll tell you what you are.

O, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you, and I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

I feel like in my music I can be a rebel. I can say things I wouldn’t say in real life.

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.

I just want to retire before I go senile because if I don’t retire before I go senile, then I’ll do more damage than good at that point.

Everyone has their style and your style explains a lot about who you are – you feel me? I’ve had style since childhood, so I like to dress how I feel. But maybe I get carried away by some trends.

She never envisioned a legal career for me, but she did think it was very important that I be able to support myself, and I think she would be pleased to see what has become of me.

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.

I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.

Rap was more of a release for me, a journal.

What can you do against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?

I do have a few little tattoos, but they were mostly done to cover scars because I’m so fair.

The answer to the problem of inequality is for the people who are fortunate enough to either have been gifted or deserved more to do everything they can to make the communities around them as strong as they possibly can.

I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.

Still and all, why bother? Here’s my answer. Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.