I never minded giving my opinions. They are just opinions, and I had studied music and I had strong feelings. I was happy for my opinions to join all the other opinions. But you have to be prepared for what comes back, especially if you don't agree with the dominant mythology.
I never minded being thought of as a pop star. People have always thought I wanted to be seen as a serious musician, but I didn't, I just wanted people to know that I was absolutely serious about pop music.
I think the mindset is always to think that you are never going to play pain-free.
I just had that mindset to never settle. That's a credit to my pops, too. He used to say 'the sky's the limit' every time we talked.
You'd rather own gold; never own the miner.
And I will never, ever respond to anybody - man, woman, vegetable, or mineral - who tells me to keep my mouth shut.
In Barcelona, things seem so different. For example, I know that it's traditionally the least Spanish city, but you'd never know they had a monarchy, coming here as a tourist - as opposed to the U.K., where the Queen is probably the best-known animal, vegetable and/or mineral going when it comes to overseas visitors.
If you mingle with real people, only then your craft can improve. I spend most of my time outside the vanity van, speaking to people. You never know what you can pick from a person.
I'm never happier when writing than when I see gags taking shape - ideally, gags at my own expense. What I like is the shuttling back and forth, serious into comedy and vice-versa, ideally, both in the same sentence, or even simultaneously. The best jokes are always ideas in miniature.
My heart's toward youth ministry, but I don't know. I never would have thought I would have written a book. And God kind of directed that. So we'll see what the next is.
Never refuse a breath mint - you don't know why it's being offered.
If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.
If you live to be 1000 years old, I hope I live to be 1000 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.
You get so tied up with the minutiae of the day-to-day, there's never a chance to sit back and let your subconscious run wild.
When we start to write for a new record, we never really know what we're doing. We don't come into the room with a set of ideas, but miraculously, a song comes out of it.
I personally never expected anything of Obama, and wrote about it before the 2008 primaries. I thought it was smoke and mirrors.
I never felt so close to a guitar as that silver one with mirrors that I used on stage all the time.
Every child senses, with all the horse sense that's in him, that any parent is angry inside when children misbehave and they dread more the anger that is rarely or never expressed openly, wondering how awful it might be.
Wherever there's an all-encompassing 'always,' 'all' or 'never' in your life, it's a sign that your mischievous subconscious is setting you up for failure by consistently leading you back toward these repeat performances.
There was the misconception out there that I retired after the 2008 season, but that was never the case. I wasn't done with basketball yet, and I'm still not done.
