We have a tradition of passing our history orally and singing a lot of it and writing songs about it and there's kind of a calling in Irish voices when they're singing in their Irish accent.

I don't do anything in order to cause trouble. It just so happens that what I do naturally causes trouble. I'm proud to be a troublemaker.

Women are to be valued for so much more than their sexuality. We aren’t merely objects of desire.

I understand that we are actually complicated people but we are also dreadfully simple.

I don't believe in any kind of artistic snobbery or musical snobbery. You know, to me, the sexiest and the most spiritual words ever uttered in rock and roll are wop babaloo balop bam boom.

Maybe it was mean, but I really don't think so. You asked for the truth and I told you.

When you dishonor the the utter glory and majesty of black people, you lie. Your heart lies to you and you let it

I grew up in a situation of extreme abuse, but there was no chance to talk about it, so music became the escape if you like.

At some point the entire population of the earth is gonna have to look back at the kind of essence of spirituality which is basically caring about each other.

When I kissed you, you didn't mind. I thought I tasted of too many cigarettes, but you tasted like wine.

In my belief, there's one spirit. I prefer to call it the Holy Spirit. I don't think it matters if you call it God or Allah or Jesus or Fred or David or too early in the morning or whatever.

Money isn't everything, but it is when you start thinking about putting money away for your retirement days.

She wondered if maybe tragedy was what it took to make your heart capable of admitting a new member.

To destroy is always the first step in any creation.

Their marketing strategy had to be changed to the young people. That's who buys the beer.

All my life I'd gone for women who were a little off.

Art has to be incredibly layered. Symbols, signifiers... layers that relate. Combine signifiers with more abstract notions. Push! Vary lines.

Writing is very improvisational. It's like trying to fix a broken sewing machine with safety pins and rubber bands. A lot of tinkering.

Photographs open doors into the past, but they also alloq a look into the future

My real pleasure is that 4 times a week 1,800 people are standing up and shouting on Broadway for an author who died hundreds of years ago.

I'm not afraid to have a character say, 'I am a Christian,' or, 'I believe in God,' because I think they represent real people on this Earth.