Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
No one controlled Frank Sinatra or told him how to sing. No secret group of managers has been telling someone like Jay-Z what to do or how to look. And no one tells me what to do except me and the people who believe in me.
I think J.S. Bach's music stands among humankind's greatest accomplishments. For me, Bach's music is not only as good as music gets, but also as good as it gets, period -- as good as existence, reality, life and the world.
Reading counts as partying, even if you're not enjoying it! Even if someone's forcing you to read, you can find a way to make it into a party if you party hard enough. It just takes more effort and a more advanced approach.
Music is about truth, and truth contains the ugliness and the dark and evil and hate and sadness as well as the happiness and beauty and everything in between. Having all those extremes is itself a satisfying, positive thing.
Food is a party; it's exciting. It should be a source of entertainment and nourishment. And just do everything you can to not let food become anything but fun. Let it be a source of pleasure, not anxiety or neuroses or stress.
Just because someone signed up for something or takes advice or has managers or works in entertainment or show business with other people doesn't mean they don't have a brain, okay? It doesn't mean that they're not a real person.
I think it's so completely bizarre and arrogant for anyone to ever think that they could lose their innocence, because that implies that they have some sense, some idea of what's going on, and no one has any idea what's going on.
I don't think I'd really talked about politics - governmental politics specifically - very often, and it was a bit of a stretch for me to do so for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I'm not that well-versed or educated in politics.
In a longer term relationship, I don't know that the intoxication would add very much - it might even take away. You don't perform as well, get tired faster and lose your edge. It can also dull your senses, so you might not appreciate what's going on.
What I learned about music is that it can have nothing to do with words, instrumentation, image, message, or meaning. The meaning is the melody, the notes, the rhythm - music for the sake of its own beauty, with nothing more required to express itself.
Try to imagine that you're the strongest, most noble, most thoughtful, most compassionate, intelligent person in the world, and pretend to be that. Speak from that place. It's more than self-awareness; it's the ability to access this super-intelligence.
I always wanted to be cheered up. I felt like that feeling of the first day of summer or when a girl would agree to go on a date or you found a $20 bill - that undeniable rush of excitement - I wanted to make a soundtrack of music for that kind of moment.
I have met people that said when their friend was dying, they made them promise that their funeral would be a party without people sitting in silence and in sadness. They want to celebrate their life and the life they lived and I try to adhere to that more.
When you're single, you go out and party and it's fun, but in a relationship, you experience things together. It's just sharing the memories and looking back on them together, remembering that it was an amazing time. And then thinking about it like it was just yesterday.
They teach real young kids and when I was about five my Mom took me to enroll in this thing and they said I could do it. It was definitely my choice, but I would have never thought of it. There's pictures of me playing piano when I'm real, real little, that kind of stuff.
Out of all the things I could imagine spending my time doing, I figure if I was going to devote myself to a mission or dedicate my life to a cause, it should be an enjoyable one. And partying was the most fun thing I could think of and also that other people could relate to.
I wash my hair maybe once every four or five months. But whenever I touch my hair, I wash my hands. I think since I wash my hands a lot and then touch my hair, maybe I'm washing my hair each time. But also, I sweat a lot, and sweat is like a natural shower built into your body.
I always liked major-key music quite a bit, and that might have something to do with so many of the musical experiences of my childhood being based around the piano. On piano, it is very easy to move between major and minor and to really see how it looks and to feel how it sounds.
Everyone knows that in the early stages of a relationship, some alcohol can help lead to lowering inhibitions, calming some nerves and encouraging fearlessness. And sometimes that helps you meet someone or get with a partner you normally wouldn't have, so it can be good in that sense.
When people do things to make your dream come true, you owe them in one way or another. Everyone understands that for every dream that comes true for you, there might not be a dream coming true for someone else. When we trade one wish for another, there's a price to pay. It works like that
That quote by this guy Friedrich Schiller, "Keep true to the dreams of thy youth"? That quote changed my life. It confirmed that every crazy thing I'd ever done at least was staying true to the dreams of my youth - and really, I mean very young dreams of just being able to have fun all the time.
'You're not alone' can be a great thing to hear when you're feeling quite despondent and alienated from the world and yourself. But if you're someone who's been completely overwrought with the intensity of life and the world, getting some space to be alone can be one of the things you crave most.
Most people tell you there are certain moments you should celebrate in life: for example, the weekend coming, so you should party on a Friday. Or your birthday or New Year's Eve. But what if you're excited about being alive every day? Can't you be in that celebratory state every moment you're not dead?
The music is just very specifically [designed] to get you energized. That's the great thing about those situations: I have no choice. It completely takes over your body and pushes you, like it was designed to do. I'm constantly surrounded by music, energy, and experiences that put me in that state of cheer.
Once, Pee-wee Herman tweeted a photo of this guitar I made that's shaped like a slice of pizza, and it meant a lot to me. People downplay it, but there's power there, people reaching toward each other and toward truth. Any mechanism, any resource that we can use to further that reach, is part of the human destiny.
New York was very frightening and very overwhelming, and I didn't really know anybody. My sister had some friends there, and I stayed with them, then I moved in with a friend of a friend. I was very outside my comfort zone. Then again, I was pretty uncomfortable in general - but I knew it was where I was supposed to be.
I have been accused of having people design my image, tell me what to say in interviews, design my clothes, the way I look and talk, and, of course, my music. It's true I do work with people, but not to accomplish anything bad: just the basics that any person does in this business and with this opportunity to live out my dreams.
I'm not proud of this at all, but I'm someone who has relied on business managers and accountants and career managers to run the whole bureaucratic side of my life for the last 16 years, so anything, from filing tax returns to paying credit card statements, is something that I feel rather fortunate to have been out of the loop on.
There is an endorphin rush that comes when you puke. It's kind of like a runners wall. Once you cross that wall, once you cross that party wall and you puke, you do get a rush. There are good chemicals there. And also, you've made more room in your gut, in your stomach, in your gullet for more content, whether it be fluids or foods.
I remember when I first moved to New York, people said, "Wow, man! You're so great. You have all these hopes and dreams, but it's going to be sad when you realize how the world really works!" But one of the things I love most about this city is that everyone who moves here is being unreasonable. There's a sense of solidarity about that.
In some ways, you do lose a bit of freedom but as you get older, you might realize that you've met someone pretty cool - maybe a soulmate - so you're getting released from the endless pursuit of going out and trying to meet new people. So now you get to put your energy into building something that's longer lasting and a bit more meaningful.
I never did well meeting strangers, so my favorite part of partying as a couple was that I didn't need to strike up conversation from scratch. If you've ever had to go out and meet new people on your own, you would understand. It can be a bit of an awkward situation. If you're already out at a party with someone you know, it takes that pressure off.
What people refer to as nerds or geeks, all they really are is people who are passionate about what they like, and aren't afraid of it. To me, it's very frustrating when people are discourage from being enthusiastic about things. This idea of the geek, or the nerd; all that person really is - and I would consider myself one - is someone who is not ashamed of liking what they enjoy.
In fine arts, when you make a painting, it's just a painting. But if you make a painting in the entertainment industry, it can be an album cover or a t-shirt or a logo. I like that entertainment has this usefulness - that it's ultimately trying to make a bunch of people feel something, and to think about life and be able to use things that were so simple and direct but potentially have a really powerful effect.
I think that deprecation part is a very important aspect because when someone looks into themselves, if they're going to be honest, they're going to see parts that are humiliating as well as parts that they might feel really great about. Take Lucas Samaras again, who made a lot of self-portraits. He makes one self-portrait where he is looking directly into the camera and looks so intense and cool. He says in an interview, "I wanted to present the best version of myself."