An artist is an entertainer, number one - a storyteller who takes people someplace, who gives them what they didn't know they wanted.

One of the reasons I love to jump back and forth between mediums is that film does allow me to be more literal. I can go to the real place. I can go to the Coliseum, and I don't have to fake it.

When I was thinking about The Lion King, I said, we have to do what theater does best. What theater does best is to be abstract and not to do literal reality.

I think we all see the world from our own little unique bubble.

I really do believe that if you don't challenge yourself and risk failing, that it's not interesting.

There is incredible power in the arts to inspire and influence.

When you break into song, it's not about dialogue, it's not about how you would speak in a naturalistic sense-it's about expressing your inner torment or your inner joy.

Theater is far superior to film in poetry, in abstract poetry.

What I don't have in theater is editing.

Limitations force you to find the essence of what you want to say, which is one of the most important things to know for an artist.

I want to experience a performance on all levels - I want goose bumps and I want to leave the movie or play arguing about something that's unresolved.

Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.

Women with money and women in power are two uncomfortable ideas in our society.

All these things that we are very nostalgic for come from a place of technology dictating [art]. This time and place is no different.

You play ball against yourself; your opponent is your potential.

Blessings come in disguise. And challenges can be a blessing.

To see truth as truth, we don't need a lot of study. It's not complicated. What we need is pure observation. An open mind and fresh eyes will serve us well.

I have never really believed that acting is very difficult. I think some people have a skill and are able to act, and if you have that natural gift, it's not difficult.

Why are people so interested in other people's relationships? It's like stealing.

She who licks her lips knows the taste of her lover's desires

Every time I bring an album it's like I'm bringing in the plague, once again. I don't actually know what category it all falls into, but I've stopped worrying about it.