When I was a little kid, it was not uncommon for a cousin or an uncle, before they would even say 'Hello,' to gush, 'You know, your mother's brisket is just incredible; it's so good.' That was an inspiration for creating a love song in that well-worn terrain of the relationship between a Jewish boy and his mother.
In 1973, I broke off from the therapy and decided I could go through one of those episodes on my own, in my house. I found there is no real need to be locked up. I found that I was able to use that kind of awake dreaming that you go into during insanity and look at it and live with it and relate to it and become friends with it.
I've always believed that the best way you combat intellectual property theft is making a product available that is well priced, well timed to market, whether it's a movie product, TV product, music product, even theme-park product.
I had no luck when I started out as a model. I keep telling people that it's the only career in the world that you can't choose for yourself - you have to be chosen.
Oh, those golden-yellow eyes of the wolf! You can feel yourself being pulled in. I knew I had been accepted - and that I had spoken to another species.
Writing books and being paid for it - it's not like winning the Lottery. You can't suddenly go, 'Yippee!' and start throwing tenners in the air. I've done pretty well out of it, but certainly not enough to say, 'Right, that's me set up for life.'
I think it's the most wonderful thing in the world to have an identity, something the audience can remember you for.
If you look at America, one of the great strengths of America is its university towns and the way a lot of their businesses and a lot of their innovation and enormous economic growth have come from reducing that gap, getting those universities directly involved in start-up businesses, green field businesses, new development businesses.
Making a series can sometimes feel like you're keeping a secret for months until it comes out; so when it finalizes in front of you, if you like the final product, it can be very exciting.
You know, 10 years ago I never thought I'd be in this position. It's a dream and I don't even know if I dreamed this big.
I like learning new stuff, also, and I can sit there and watch shows on National Geographic and the Discovery Channel or stuff like that and learn something new. I think once you've gone through such a long stage of learning one thing, you're not as well-rounded as you'd like to be.
It's always hard to find the best friends in the locker room because we are all competing against each other - but the real friends you are going to definitely find off the court because we are competitors in between.
I say the same thing that I've said for decades now, which is: don't go over to Japan trying to change it, thinking that you know better. Go there trying to understand.
Johnny Cash's legacy, I think if it was one word, it would be 'integrity.' He was the original wild man and grew from that guy that was doing all the crazy things that you read that rock n' rollers do to being someone who was like the father of our country, you know. He was a guest at the White House. He was Billy Graham's friend.
We're all private people, but as a musician, I think that once you get to the point where there's more of your life behind you than in front of you, you owe it to your public to explain yourself.
Mom takes all the credit for my success. Now Mom says, 'I read your face when you were a baby, and it said you were going to be a star. That's why I named you Ming - because it's all about the sun and the stars and enlightenment.'
As far as I can see women who have facelifts don't look younger, just weirder. You see them on screen with these tight, little porcelain faces - then the hand goes up to the face and it looks like it belongs to an alien. I find it really freaky.
We want to teach families how to cook Tuscan wherever you are. How to reuse your leftovers. How to trick the kids into eating whatever you want by putting it into a frittata.
I don't think fashion has to change every five minutes. I'd like these to be clothes you can wear for a long time - ten, 20 years; pass on to your daughter. Why buy vintage when you can open your own closet!
We all need that extra friend outside of our immediate family to talk about that extra stuff you wouldn't normally talk to your parents about.
Actually, I met a lot of directors and most of them have that fantasy to make a silent movie because for directors it's the purest way to tell a story. It's about creating images that tell a story and you don't need dialogue for that.
Sometimes you might feel like you're not good enough or unique enough, but everyone is! Everyone has different personalities.
I always tell people, 'Coming from such a big Mexican family when there's a new baby every three weeks, you have to do something to get someone's attention.'
If you've got to second-guess talking to a teammate, what you have will never work.
You know, punk bands now sell with one record - their first or second record - sell 10 times the amount of records than the Ramones did throughout their career with 20-something records. That's why I go over to Johnny Ramone's house and do yard work three times a week, just to absolve some of the guilt.
I love writing for dancers. You don't have to worry about the lyrics. I think to write words without music must be so frustrating. It must be always be so good, so perfect.
When walking, you see things that you miss in a motor car or on the train. You give your mind space to ponder.
Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe.
I have used dating apps a couple of times in the past and met people, but it is a difficult thing because you're meeting someone who you really don't know and you have no link to. I have friends who have had great relationships after meeting on Tinder or Bumble, so I'd never say never, but it hasn't worked for me.
You know, I'm just 6'9" and 260. And just so happen to be very good at playing the game of basketball.
Why invite you to dinner if I can't cook?
If you're black, if you're gay, if you're Latin - we're all the same. We're all the same, and we all want the same: We want to be happy.
I have an amazing wife and three beautiful children, and that certainly makes you less obsessive about your art as a musician - which I've always felt was more like painting than anything.
Do you want to be an actor, or do you want to be a celebrity? I made that decision when I went to Juilliard. I wanted to be an actor. So, if I get the opportunity to be an actor and do some cool, fun and interesting projects, I'm going to do that.
When you look out the window of a spaceship, you see entire countries, vast swaths of continents. One turn of the head covers what once took thousands of years to traverse at ground level.
It's hard to understand why just walking around for two hours and taking pictures would be just a big deal, but once you try it, you'll fall in love with it.
