I've always been able to be firm, to talk my way out of sticky situations. Bullies at school. Attempted muggings.
It is possible to take something beautiful and lasting out of the heart-wrenching experience of seeing the animal you love move inexorably toward death.
You don't sit up in a cave and write the Great American Novel and know it is utterly superb, and then throw it page by page into the fire. You just don't do that. You send it out. You have to send it out.
When the first album came out and I heard 'Do It Again' on the radio, that was the greatest thing that had ever happened. After that, it was all downhill.
You have to take your ego out of it and say, do I want people to be obsequious to me or do I want to write good books? If it's the latter, you have to take criticism. It's annoying, but that's how to do good stuff; listen to other people.
Choosing to write a play is some kind of surrender. I don't make an outline. I sit and work, and suddenly the door opens, and out it comes.
What I love most about icons is finding out what's behind them, exploring the price of their power.
I sequence during the entire recording process. The sequencing changes as I'm recording and as I'm listening. From when I'm, like, four songs in, I start trying to figure out which song should come after which. Which is important, and it changes as the album goes.
If you're trying to avoid one move that you don't think is going to work out, don't then settle for a different move that maybe doesn't check all the boxes. Be true to the philosophy and understand the bigger picture. There's always another day to fight.
I think the reason I don't read is because, when I'm reading, I feel like I'm missing out on something else. You know, What are my friends doing? Where's my girlfriend?
I wonder how many decisions we make every day. I believe it's probably hundreds. We decide whether or not to get out of bed, what we'll eat, what we'll do, what we'll think about, what we'll say... and on and on.
A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilized nations. They have the best implements of war.
I did 'Shameless' on Showtime, and I felt like I really tried to go super-method with that, and it would just make my days really hard to get in and out of character.
That's John Constantine. You put him in a corner, and you squeeze him, and he'll find his way out. There's something in him - he's a great escape artist.
When I think of Emily Dickinson, there's not one particular poem of hers that jumps out, but I do have a very vivid image of an ill woman with giant eyes who wants to write about the sun exploding.
I think as the world changes, we have to keep up. We have to note what is happening, and I think writing has always had a powerful corrective influence and possibility. We have to write about what's good, and we also have to write about parts of our culture that are not good, that are not working out. I think it takes a new eye.
A border collie saved me once when I was pinned under a horse in Colorado. And once when I went through the ice, one of my sled dogs saw me go under, and she got the rest of the team, and they pulled me out of 12 feet of water. I think that dogs offer the only form of unconditional love that's available to humans.
When I started out, I had no idea what I was doing. I was 16, and acting was a new, exciting thing. So, I took it on. It was an excuse to get away from college.
I have a book out called 'The Beauty Equation' and it discusses how off track we have gone in considering beauty.
I loved Luke Skywalker and I loved Darth Vader and I loved watching them work it out.
Right before I decided to come out, I went on a spiritual retreat called 'Changing the Inner Dialogue of Your Subconscious Mind.' I'd never been to anything like it before, and all my friends were taking bets on how long I'd last with no TV, no radio, no phone. But for me that was the beginning of paying attention to all the little things.
My mom had a heart attack, and it came out of nowhere - she was 54. My dad had leukemia for about 3 months. He was 80 when he passed. My dad had me later in life, and so he had leukemia and was alive for about 3 months between diagnosis and passing away.
People forget... that we structured it so that the government, or the people, would be repaid with a really good rate of return. And as it turns out, that aspect of TARP, that's what happened.
For my kids, it's just weird to see your dad pretend to be someone else. It's weird to see your father make out with another woman. It's not cool.
My wife likes me to point out that she puts our daughter down to sleep more often than I do, which gives me time to write stupid books about it.
I grew up with reggae. Reggae is like family. I know it, and there's a type of love and familiarity, but sometimes you want to hang out with other people.
If you're going away, be sure to cancel the paper, the milk, and the laundry pickup. Remove the fresh stuff from the ice box, lock the windows and doors, and phone the cops and tell them how long you'll be gone so they'll keep an eye out for burglars.
I think I have great hands out of the backfield.
I don't like to work out, and I get bored easily.
I don't actually go out and pursue a route that will fit me best, it's just that something comes to me and I enjoy it and want to be a part of it.
Eight years ago, you may remember Hillary and I were rivals for the Democratic nomination. We battled for a year and a half. Let me tell you, it was tough, because Hillary was tough. I was worn out. She was doing everything I was doing, but just like Ginger Rogers, it was backwards in heels.
I'm not the comedy police, but you watch a movie, and everyone's laughing, and then you shake it out, and you realize, 'There's no joke there!'
My father, a bakery-truck driver, was the epitome of the work ethic that probably kept me knocking out columns six days a week for a rough total of 12,600 over 50 years.
The first time I shared my music and style with my mom, she said, 'Boy, you look like you came right out of the 1950s.'
I try never to focus on the radio, just find great songs, find emotion and just write the best songs you can. I think when you get fixated on trying to do something too accurate, it becomes more washed out and less what you intended it to be. So I think each time the challenge for me is to try and reinvent a little bit.
If you want to be a comedian, go out. Do a week in Des Moines, Iowa. Try to make those people laugh.
