It's been said to me that I'm self-destructive because I'll walk away from things that are good.

The best bands kept making records and had this evolution, where by the end, by their commercial phase or sellout phase, the records are from outer space.

I have a hard time repeating myself.

I was never in the business of trying to put my name out there - I was really focused on music and records and being in the studio.

I realized I liked being in the studio and working on translating the ideas into recordings.

Im still an idealist. My manager is always trying to talk me out of it, but thats just the way I am.

If the chemistry between me and the artist is good, then that's half the battle.

I try not to become friends with musicians, but life happens and dinner happens and going out happens - it becomes interwoven in L.A.

I like to find an artist who inspires me and get into their world and challenge them.

I was a snot-nosed teenage skater at one point, who listened to only punk records and hung around people that had that idea of what is okay to do and what isn't okay to do.

The goal is to make something that sounds new and different.

The clothes may vary, but the person is the same.

The truth is, until you know any different, the island is enough.Actually, I know different. And it's still enough.

Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.

Some things are too terrible to be true.

As we have seen, nobody is lucky enough not to be born, everybody is unlucky enough to have been born – and particularly bad luck it is.

With nonfiction, I go in trying to be really honest about what my preconceptions are.

Not every action requires military action. As a matter of fact, military action is the very last resort for us.

Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.

I have placed there a little door opening on to the mysterious. I have made stories.

I've let go of being a super perfectionist on every single note and wanting the pitch to be absolutely perfect all of the time. I grew up watching the best of the best.