You are born and then you die, but in between you can do anything you want. It's society that creates rules for us, but you can break out of that.

I started performing opera when I was 10 years old. I didn't perform as Zola Jesus until I was probably 18.

I don't know why people think I'm a Goth - that's a misconception.

The most important thing for us to do as beings is to be aware of our position in the world on a micro and macro level.

I feel like humans are a disease. It's a hard thing to communicate in a pop song. I mean, who wants to hear that?

My music started as a way to break through weaknesses - like anxiety, which was completely taking over my whole life, where I could barely function.

No matter what you do, if there's something you're afraid of, you need to break through it.

I like to remind myself that everything is meaningless.

And my music is always such a release of what I feel inside, an impulse.

I know for sure that nothing matters.

I feel like I am alone when I am in the presence of those I love. It is so freeing and comfortable, you become one with them.

Babies cry at birth because it is the first time they experience separation from love.

Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.

A hero is merely a man never afraid of being called to heaven because he is certain he has done his duty, Nicholas." -Admiral Lord Nelson (fictional)

I regard texture similar to the function of taste buds in our mouths. But in a visual form. Texture does create a specific flavour which affects our senses.

We writers - we're the snowflakes of the literary world. We each have our own shape.

Do you even know who I am? Seriously, tell me, because I don't.

The moon is looking down into the canyon, and how marvelously the great rocks kindle to her light! Every dome, and brow, and swelling boss touched by her white rays, glows as if lighted with snow.

Matter can never give you joy. It's the Spirit that gives you joy.

Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese--toasted mostly.

I'm not politically vocal. I just want what's best for our country. I want our rights respected and those of my son's.