Most people don't want to talk about politics and religion. They say, 'Let's talk about something else.'
I like Hollywood. I just like Minneapolis a little bit better.
People say I'm wearing heels because I'm short. I wear heels because the women like 'em.
I ain't mad at anybody. I don't have any enemies.
Technology is cool, but you've got to use it as opposed to letting it use you.
There's a dark side to everything.
Every day I feel is a blessing from God. And I consider it a new beginning. Yeah, everything is beautiful.
Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people.
Like books and black lives, albums still matter.
Too much freedom can lead to the soul's decay.
I don't talk about the past.
Instead of hate, celebrate.
Music is music, ultimately. If it makes you feel good, cool.
If you lend your consciousness to someone else, you're a robot.
I like constructive criticism from smart people.
My mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, 'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said 'Why?' and I said 'Because an angel told me so.' Now, I don't remember saying it; that's just what she told me.
To create something from nothing is one of the greatest feelings, and I would - I don't know, I wish it upon everybody. It's heaven.
Sometimes ideas are coming so fast that I have to stop doing one song to get another. But I don't forget the first one. If it works, it will always be there. It's like the truth: it will find you and lift you up. And if it ain't right, it will dissolve like sand on the beach.
When everyone recognizes Jehovah's name, then everyone will be happy because everyone will know what to do and how to do it.
All these non-singing, non-dancing, wish-I-had-me-some-clothes fools who tell me my albums suck. Why should I pay any attention to them?
Art is about building a new foundation, not just laying something on top of what's already there.
Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you.
You can't understand the words of Cocteau Twins songs, but their harmonies put you in a dreamlike state.
A strong spirit transcends rules.
I'm a fighter. I'm very competitive.
I pushed the envelope as far as it needed to be pushed, and now it's on the floor, and people seem to want it to stay there.
When I found out that there was eight Presidents before George Washington, I wanted to smack somebody.
YouTube is the hippest network, and they abuse copyright right and left.
You can always tell when the groove is working or not.
The key to longevity is to learn every aspect of music that you can.
I learned from Jehovah's Witnesses that a fatalistic view is counterproductive.
Most bands out there are basically pretty boring. I try to affect people inside their bodies.
I don't live in the past. I don't play my old records for that reason. I make a statement, then move on to the next.
Time is a mind construct. It's not real.
I do pay performance royalties on others' songs I perform live, but I'm not recording these songs and putting them up for sale.
The music industry is a matrix that is counter to what is natural and right.
So much has been written about me, and people don't know what's right and what's wrong. I'd rather let them stay confused.
I used to have seizures when I was young. My mother and father didn't know what to do or how to handle it but they did the best they could with what little they had.
You don't have to watch 'Gossip Girl' to have an attitude.
Music is real. It affects people; it's real.
Being a Jehovah's Witness, I don't celebrate birthdays or holidays. I don't vote.
I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it.
'When Doves Cry' came out - it sounded like nothing that was on the radio. 'Let's Go Crazy' was number one on R&B stations, and there's nothing that's been like that on radio since.
I've always understood the two to be intertwined: sexuality and spirituality. That never changed.
I like to open people's eyes.
When I first started out in this music industry, I was most concerned with freedom. Freedom to produce, freedom to play all the instruments on my records, freedom to say anything I wanted to.
My hair is capable of doing a lot of different things.
I don't talk to old people; they try to find ways to stay static. Young folks are the ones with the ideas and constantly moving forward.
The Bible is a study guide for social interaction.
I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music.
When I started playing music, people weren't selling 5 million records. That was not the standard; that was not the focus.
We have to show support for artists who are trying to own things for themselves.
I don't vote and I got nothing to do with it.
What's missing from pop music is danger.
I used to be more involved with every aspect of everything onstage. I'm way more relaxed now. It feels like anything can happen.
People speculate on your personal life all the time anyway. So I just think it's important to keep my private life private and my public persona more into music, you know?
There's not a lot of pop music in the mainstream that makes you feel scared, that makes you wonder what's happening.
I learned from Jimi Hendrix. They all wanted him to do the tricks, and at the end of his career, he just wanted to play. I lived longer than he did, and I can see how those pressures can really play with your head.
There are people who are unhappy with everything.
Oh, I love critics. Because they love me. It's not a joke. They care.
I think you'll always be able to do what your ear tells you.
Each audience is different.
Everyone has a rock bottom.
Contrary to what a lot of people think, I haven't been domesticated.
You ever get that feeling that you just have too many hits?
Tell me a musician who's got rich off digital sales. Apple's doing pretty good though, right?
When you sit down to write something, there should be no guidelines. The main idea is not supposed to be, 'How many different ways can we sell it?' That's so far away from the true spirit of what music is.
I have friends that are gay, and we study the Bible together.
No one can come and claim ownership of my work. I am the creator of it, and it lives within me.
I'm thankful enough or blessed enough to be able to say that Miles Davis was a friend when he was alive, and he was a wonderful mentor and really, really funny, you know.
It gets embarrassing to say something untrue because you put it online and everyone knows about it, so it's better to tell the truth.
I'm real easy-going.
Doing a residency in any particular city requires a large repertoire to ensure repeat business.
I might just stop talking again and not do interviews.
People don't understand real musicians anymore. Jack White is great - he's the real thing - but he isn't having hits.
Just sharing music with each other - that's cool. It's the selling that becomes the problem.
Prophecy is what we all have to go by now.
You don't need a record company to turn you into anything.
My father left his piano at the house when he left, and I wasn't allowed to play it when he was there because I wasn't as good as him. So when he left, I was determined to get as good as him, and I taught myself how to play music, and I just stuck with it, and I did it all the time.
The internet's completely over.
Young people have decided they like to listen to music in a certain way, through ear buds, and that's fine with me as long as it doesn't bother them that they're not hearing 90 percent of the music that way.
There's this thing called compulsory licensing law that allows artists through the record companies to take your music at will without your permission.
All you see on television are debased images.
I've never stopped writing, never stopped recording.
Record contracts are just like - I'm gonna say the word - slavery. I would tell any young artist... don't sign.
Hip-hop is very diverse, but if you only focus on one aspect of it, then what you get is this image of Black America that is completely contrary to what actually goes on.
A bootlegger is a bootlegger, a scalper is a scalper.
I'm not one to get bad reviews.
I have a lot of parties.
Nobody sues their fans.
Most artists lose their voice, their hair, and their bands. That's not going to happen to me.
I don't want anyone to fail, so if you can make money off music even though you can't sing or dance, that's genius.
It's work to play the same songs the same way for 70 shows.
'Billboard' needs to tell the truth, shake things up.
I always knew I had a relationship with God. But I wasn't sure God had a relationship with me.
It might be a shock to see me, but that's no reason for people to act crazy, and it doesn't give them license to chase me down the street.
Well, my musicians are my friends.
I pride myself on working with great musicians.
It's fun being in Islamic countries, to know there's only one religion. There's order. You wear a burqa. There's no choice. People are happy with that.
The music, for me, doesn't come on a schedule. I don't know when it's going to come, and when it does, I want it out.
