I wrote a song at age five about algae on the pond by our house, then the next 'real' song was in fifth grade about an unrequited crush.

A great song is the reason you want to jump out of your bed in the morning.

I'd be the outsider gal who undergoes a makeover in the end [in the 'The Breakfast Club' ].

I want them to have a desirable experience in whatever way that may manifest itself in each person.

My main influences are pop and folk music - Bob Lind, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, the Motown collection, The Zombies, Elliott Smith, and a ton of 70's AM radio hits. I love powerpop too.

A good song is like a mannequin - its form makes sense, but there's no life. There should be memorable melody, thoughtful lyric, appropriate arrangement.

It's so frightening, the nationalism in the air.

I love the Constitution and government of this land, but I hate the damned rascals that administer the government.

I'm careful what I put out there into the universe, musically. I don't take it lightly.

A lot of actors are like, 'Why do I do this? My character wouldn't do this? This doesn't make sense.' And in a comedy, you kind of just need to walk into the door.

Let your child be the teenager he or she wants to be, not the adolescent you were or wish you had been.

Sometimes I remind myself of all the things that make me feel so blessed. And then I remind myself to remind myself more often.

My inspiration came from the land, ... and, of course, from Paul Klee . . . and the poetics of his paintings.

Very little about being a writer is signing an autograph. It's sitting in a room and writing. Getting it out.

Why, if we are as pragmatic as we claim, don't we begin to ask ourselves seriously: Where does our real future lie?

Time is but a shadow, a dream; already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why He lets us suffer.