I'm obsessed with books.

It wasn't my natural inclination to get into writing protest songs.

Zen Buddhism is a discipline where belief isn't necessary.

Sometimes a little compromise isn't a bad thing. You don't need to be precious about it.

The public so often want to freeze the artist in a moment in time when they were at their peak, and they want the artist to revisit it over and over again as if it was something authentic.

I like to explore a lot of textural, arrangement aspects in the studio.

I don't listen to a lot of music any more and even the people I've loved for years - the Nick Drakes of this world - I can't go back to them and listen to them over and over.

Creating a decent pop song is a challenge - and occasionally, once in every decade - it's kind of fun to do that.

I knew that I had to find my own voice, both figuratively and literally.

During the lifetime of Japan I became very neurotic, very paranoid.

Be contented with the things of the world. Develop greed for God.

What is required of thee, O man, but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with thy God. Micah 6:8

Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light? Or just another lost angel... City of Night?

Some people think the devil is one being. I think the devil is when many beings come together to do terrible things. You are looking at the Terrible.

To transform experience and thought into language and narrative - that is beautiful even if that beauty is in brokenness.

I like making black and white films in natural surroundings, but I much prefer shooting a color film inside a studio where the colors are easier to control.

While drawing grasses I learn nothing 'about' grass, but wake up to the wonder that there is grass at all.

A book's flaws make it less predictable.

I prefer the things around town. I'm not one for going out of town too much.

No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you.