I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard-working guy.

I think in terms of emotions. And feelings. So sometimes what I say may not always be clear. But creatively, there's a lot to be said for that way of thinking.

I still believe that something is right only when it feels right.

If there's not love present, it's much, much harder to function. When there's love present, it's easier to deal with life.

You say how you feel, and songs don't lie. Songs are the most honest form of human expression there is--there's nothing that lies about a song.

Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.

I believe that music is God's voice.

The idea of taking a song, envisioning the overall sound in my head and then bringing the arrangement to life in the studio...well, that gives me satisfaction like nothing else.

Every now and then I hear voices in my head, but not very clear. I can't understand what they are saying. It's a mental illness. I have been diagnosed as a manic depressive.

Humor - it helps to make the vibe better - it loosens up the vibrations.

I wake up in the morning and I say 'Ahh! Today's the day for a song! I'm going to write a song today!' And I do. I write a song.

Never stop learning knowledge doubles every fourteen months.

I really am a thinker. I don't do things rash. I know some of the things I've said or the way I act seem rash. But I do take ownership of it. I don't say things I don't mean.

I think there's every reason this 21st century will be much happier.

Through the centuries, the history of peoples is but a lesson in mutual tolerance.

Some paint comes across directly onto the nervous system and other paint tells you the story in a long diatribe through the brain.

If your book doesn't keep you up nights when you are writing it, it won't keep anyone up nights reading it.

It's actually very difficult to make something both simple and good.

At Yale we don’t just want to make new things, we want to make things better.

Perhaps the greatest challenge has been trying to keep my time to myself and my private life private in order to do my job. Everything that is most mine belongs to everyone now.

Don't bother just to be better than others. Try to be better than yourself.