Ever since I began to compose, I have remained true to my starting principle: not to write a page because no matter what public, or what pretty girl wanted it to be thus or thus; but to write solely as I myself thought best, and as it gave me pleasure.
I will wear makeup because I want to look good for myself, but it's not to please other people. It's not so I fit in with the pretty girls or to impress guys.
I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I'm going to make a country album.
While I am in this world, I am resolved that no vexation shall put me out of temper if I can possibly command myself. Even old age, which is making strides towards me, shall not prevail to make me peevish.
Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.
Every morning I tell myself, 'Today has to be productive' - and then something happens that prevents me from writing.
I do this for the sake of myself. It's a selfish process. I don't really have any expectations from anyone for your comments or your reviews or your previews.
I can never bring myself to watch Mahesh's films. It's way too stressful for me. All his family members are eager to attend and enjoy the previews of his films like normal people. But I sit at home chewing my nails, praying, wondering if this one will be as big as the previous one, and so on.
I find myself to be truly primal and passionate. Everything I do comes from a primal place.
At first, I didn't hang out with celebrity kids. That wasn't the way I was brought up. I went to a run-of-the-mill Catholic primary school when we first moved to L.A. But then I went to a high school where there were lots of 'industry' children. Those weren't my best friends and I've never set out to make myself a part of that scene.
As a working-class actor, leaving school with no qualifications, being a printer and then becoming an actor and then working with people who to a certain extent had had a leg up. I never had that advantage. It's less an artistic need to express myself and more a need to prove myself.
I keep my house tidy, because then I can think clearly. I feel the same about myself. Presenting yourself well is a working-class thing - my dad was a printer, but he wore a tie most days. The ungroomed look belongs more to the middle classes.
I love the writing. I love the idea of typing and seeing it on the computer and printing it out myself and, you know, moving sentences around. I like that.
I shall refract myself, yes, I shall no longer be known as the prism.
I don't live in a prism, and I'm not afraid of anything. I haven't built any walls around myself.
I drive myself to and from work. I love the privacy.
I'm a very private person. I find it very daunting to have to give private parts of myself away to people, you know?
I got into writing music when I was, like, 14 or 15. It was a very private thing for me because I used it as an outlet and emotional release. I kept it very close to myself and didn't tell too many people about it.
My books should feel like you're getting a peek into a private world: a diary no one was meant to read. As soon as I start thinking, 'This book is going to be published,' my drawing becomes calculated and deliberate. It's one of the ways I trick myself.
Earlier in my career, I was much more super-sharey. There were moments when I wanted to process things that were happening to me more privately, and I didn't have the space to do it, because once you let people in, they're in, and you don't get to say, 'Oh, I want this for myself.'
