I wonder what all those Chinese poets sound like in Chinese. I like their distilled quality.

The first time I met Patti Smith was in a laundromat. We knew some of the same people, including Richard Hell.

I just don't like people coming up to me and saying something. It immediately makes you become insincere. There is no way you can react to it sincerely.

When I think of 'influence', I think of 'influenza', like somebody's picked up a germ.

The song Venus de Milo, the whole subject of it is Love is a drug.

I never liked mellow sounding guitar.

You can't get so interested in just making sounds. The point of it all is some kind of expression.

Practice? I never practice. I just write songs and take solos.

I like thinking of myself as invisible. I find it a very advantageous way to live.

Everybody's out trying to be commercial. I'm not trying to be anything, really.

When somebody turned me on to a Coltrane record around seventh grade, I took up saxophone.

If you can live while doing what you love, then you are already a success.

God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.

Love should never be a secret and it should never, ever be forgotten.

I want to be a child doctor. A pediatry... how do you call it, pediatrician? Do I like kids? No, not really.

I have parents come up to me and say, 'I don't know who you are, but my kid wants his picture taken with you.

So yeah, I play the piano for most of the show, but I like rock and roll

Even the roughest character, underneath all that hurt, is someone who wants to love and be loved.

I suppose it's part of being a good politician to be able to spot the most important men in any group without outside assistance.

The golden way is to be friends with the world and to regard the whole human family as one.

Study carefully, the character of the one you recommend, lest their misconduct bring you shame.