There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.

• You can't have a United States if you are telling some folks that they can't get on the train. There is a cracking point where a society collapses.
• The only thing I can say about having this type of success is that you can get yourself in trouble because basically the world is set open for you. People will say yes to anything you ask, so it's basically down to you and what you want or need.
• Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you're trying to say on stage. Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.
• Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.
• I was always concerned with writing to my age at a particular moment. That was the way I would keep faith with the audience that supported me as I went along.
• The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.
• For me, I was somebody who was a smart young guy who didn't do very well in school. The basic system of education, I didn't fit in my intelligence was elsewhere.
• My image had always been very heterosexual, very straight. So it was a nice experience for me, a chance to clarify my own feelings about gay and lesbian civil rights.
• Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed.
• I was always concerned with writing to my age at a particular moment. That was the way I would keep faith with the audience that supported me as I went along.