Songwriters tell the truth.

Listen to the Bee Gees and you can learn to be a great writer.

I was a pop-music junkie. My parents were into Frank Sinatra and Doris Day. They weren't too excited when I had Aretha or the Stones pumping.

When I look at myself, I'd like not to have hair on the top of the ceiling.

I looked a little pasty. But hey, at least I didn't wet myself!

The thing that's tricky is sometimes the best voices - just because someone hits the big notes and sounds amazing - it doesn't necessarily mean they make the greatest artists.

I have breakups that I can credit to every song. In my twenties, I picked people who would create that dysfunction and drama, so I could draw upon it.

Some of the best songs that artists perform year after year are ones they hated.

I felt like I got more comfortable on "Idol" when I just started being myself and not trying to be what I thought I had to be.

I don't go to record stores to look at my albums, but it's always a thrill to see them.

Look at someone like Ke$ha. I wouldn't say she's got the most rangy, incredible voice, but she's got a thing. She stands for something, and people are buying into that.

When we are collecting books, we are collecting happiness.

It is not, in the long run, the battles and sieges that signify, but the permanent effect on the human race of the changes they help to bring about.

Sadness comes from expectations. To be happy, adapt to everything and expect nothing.

God didn't make a mistake when He made you. You need to see yourself as God sees you.

By the way, nothing I ever say, ever, has any truth behind it.

Astrology is like any other branch of knowledge. It can be used for good or for ill, properly or improperly, by skilled and unskilled practitioners alike.

Now it's time to focus on basics for people in our neighborhoods... and real ethics reform at City Hall.

According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another.

Everything that is exquisite hides itself.

I don't read a word that's written about me. I don't read my own interviews. I don't read reviews. I think it would drive me insane.