I had an epiphany a few years ago where I was out at a celebrity party and it suddenly dawned on me that I had yet to meet a celebrity who is as smart and interesting as any of my friends.

The good thing about working alone is I get a lot done and I can experiment more. The bad thing is I miss out on the gregarious, social way that most musicians work.

One simple word: ugh. Is something still considered a conspiracy if it's played out right under our noses?

My reason for becoming a vegetarian was simple: I loved (and love) animals

I'm envious of people who can sleep as long as they want. I have the circadian rhythm of a farmer.

The good thing about not being drop-dead gorgeous is that as time passes, I don't have much to worry about. I have friends who are actors and every day they look in the mirror with trepidation.

Could you look an animal in the eyes and say to it, 'My appetite is more important than your suffering'?

I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.

Ignorance is the parent of fear.

Dogs have boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.

I like noise. It's always puzzled me why one of the goals of contemporary recording is to get rid of noise and to eliminate any element of a performance.

Again, as I had often met it in my own church, I was confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy all clergymen.

My existence is young like the blossoming leaves. I have experienced nothing yet.

I must have been one of the least surprised people on earth on September 11. I felt very braced for that. I knew something like that was going to come.

If one is not productive in other spheres, one is not productive in the love either.

What makes vanity so insufferable to us, is that it hurts our own.

It is not for us to hold ourselves above the position of grateful people. We have to be able to accept. Anything else shows an unwillingness to grant someone else the superior place.

The unnatural, that too is natural.

The real role of leadership in education ... is not and should not be command and control. The real role of leadership is climate control, creating a climate of possibility.

The most solitary I ever felt was when I was living in New York. I used to live in Enrico Caruso's old apartment, and I had a special staircase that took me up to the roof. There was nobody up there.

People try constantly to use me and I hate it.