I love Motown, but I've obviously always been more of a Memphis soul fan. If it's Stax or Motown, I go Stax.

Nashville's like any other hometown - after a while, it's stifling.

I think a lot of men are afraid of pretty things, and I'm not, I like pretty songs.

As a southern man, there's two things I'm definitely not scared of: bow ties and white pants.

My parents split up when I was about 2. I realize more and more how much I'm like my father. My gentleness comes from my mother.

I didn't do anything differently than what my father was doing. It's a really hard family to rebel in. I could have become an accountant. Or I could have become a Republican.

All my records have been written to be records, rather than writing a group of songs and seeing if they fit together.

I didn't get into music to become a blues musician, or a country musician. I'm a singer-songwrit er. In my book that means I get to do whatever I want.

I've never been good at rock'n'roll songs, anyway; either I'm blessed or I'm cursed, but whatever I write comes out sounding old.

I heard Nirvana, and discovered that songs could be like poetry, but a little bit more refined: you didn't have to have 20 verses to get your point across.

I always watched movies and rooted for the bad guys, you know? I've always been that kind of guy. I still hold some respect for criminals that are good at their jobs.

Mammals of every species indulge in play. Games are Nature's way of preparing us to face difficult realities.

Saying ‘I love you’ every day’ to your loved ones is not required, but if you say it, what will you lose?

When I believe in something, I support it fully. On that note, I totally don't support Velcro shoes.

There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails. It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do.

No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state

Reconnecting to the animal means getting to a more sensitive, more artful and more humorous place in the psyche.

I am accused often of too much experimentation.., but what else should I do when all other factors of man are in the same condition. I thrust forward into space as science and the rest do.

I want to make clothes that make women feel beautiful.

Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.

Public education is so important - resisting privatization and charterization, high-stakes testing, and defunding. It's important for New York, but it's also important for the country.