The whole purpose of writing a book is to be understood - if other people write about you, they try to guess why you did things, or they hear things from other people.

I have this ability to find this hidden talent in people that sometimes even they didn't know they had.

Money had never been the main thing for me. It's the legacy that was important.

Motown was about music for all people – white and black, blue and green, cops and the robbers. I was reluctant to have our music alienate anyone.

There aren’t enough people who care about the future. They are too busy worrying about today and what they can grab now

Michael Jackson was not an artist who comes along once in a decade, a generation, or a lifetime. He was an artist who comes along only once, period… He raised the bar and then BROKE the bar!

I didn't want to be a big record mogul and all that stuff. I just wanted to write songs and make people laugh.

Today's business climate is not for me.

I'm a songwriter, that's what I love.

All artists have runners, people that tell them what to do, business managers, lawyers, these - if they get the right ones, they're lucky, and if they get the wrong ones, they're unlucky.

Motown was about music for all people - white and black, blue and green, cops and the robbers. I was reluctant to have our music alienate anyone.

Those who are truly beautiful go out of their way to make life beautiful for others.

It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. You can let go of the sword.""I can’t. I can’t leave him alone. I have to protect him.""You have.

I don't like being alone.

one pierced moment whiter than the rest -turning from the tremendous lie of sleep i watch the roses of the day grow deep.

The received image of a writer is that of an unproductive sensitive who suffers from the vapors, is enslaved by his gonads, falls victim to romantic swoons and passes out at deadlines.

We all fear loneliness, madness, dying. Shakespeare and Walt Whitman, Leopardi and Hart Crane will not cure those fears. And yet these poets bring us fire and light.

Last night I ordered a whole meal in French. Even the waiter was amazed - it was a Chinese restaurant!

If you will be cherished when you are old, be courteous while you be young.

Sometimes love can be an ugly thing.

We have to get good at being with ourselves before we can hope to be good at being in relationships with others.