Artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs.

We're not trying to change the world; just music.

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.

A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.

The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time.

I think another thing is that we don't really want exclusivity. We accept that it is in the artist's interest to be on sale in every place where they sell music.

Let silence be the art you practice.

Every work of art is an uncommitted crime.

Play it fuckin' loud!

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo.

Art not only imitates nature, but also completes its deficiencies.

I'm very happy to hear that my work inspires writers and painters. It's the most beautiful compliment, the greatest reward. Art should always be an exchange.

Singers come and go, but if you're a good actor, you can last a long time

The earth has music for those who listen.

And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinking.

Music is mediator between spiritual and sensual life.

Each song is a child I nourish and give my love to. But even if you have never written a song, your life is a song. How can it not be?