Rest is not idleness and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day listening to the murmur of the water or watching the clouds float across the sky is by no means a waste of time.

Distance doesn't exist in fact and neither does time. Vibrations from love or music can be felt everywhere at all times.

In these confused times the role of classical music is at the very core of the struggle to reassert cultural and ethical values that have always characterized our country and for which we have traditionally been honored and respected outside our shores.

My life so common it disappears and sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.

It's really hard for me to sometimes put myself out there like 'Hey how do you feel about making music together?' because maybe I'm afraid of rejection or I don't want to put anybody out. It's the Southerner in me like 'I don't mean to bother you but do you mind making a song?'

There's a constantly applicable nature to soul music whereas sometimes pop music can be a periodical.

When I look at great works of art or listen to inspired music I sense intimate portraits of the specific times in which they were created.

The '60s was one of the first times the power of music was used by a generation to bind them together.

I haven't heard any music on the BBC World Service in a long time. Maybe I'm listening at the wrong times. But not one single piece of music.

Singing is a way of releasing an emotion that you sometimes can't portray when you're acting. And music moves your soul so music is the source of the most intense emotions you can feel.

I've studied various schools of thought... I acknowledge that some Muslims consider music prohibited but I've found a lot of evidence from the life of the Prophet to show that he allowed certainly but even encouraged music at certain times.

I like to comprehend more or less everything around me - apart from the creation of my music. It's an obsessive character trait that's getting worse. I don't switch the light on and off 15 times before I leave the room yet but something's going wrong.

Life is like music it must be composed by ear feeling and instinct not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases though not often.

No matter how many times people say it - 'Oh I'm just writing this for myself' 'Oh I'm just doing this for myself' - nobody's doing it for themselves! You're doing it for an audience. So whether I'm performing or writing a book or playing music it's definitely to be put out there and to be received in some way definitely.

Music makes us want to live. You don't know how many times people have told me that they'd been down and depressed and just wanted to die. But then a special song caught their ear and that helped give them renewed strength. That's the power music has.

Singing is a way of releasing an emotion that you sometimes can't portray when you're acting. And music moves your soul so music is the source of the most intense emotions you can feel. When you hear a song and you're acting it's incredible. But when you're singing a song and you're acting it's even more incredible.

For I have learned to look on nature not as in the hour of thoughtless youth but hearing oftentimes the still sad music of humanity.

Sometimes I feel like rap music is almost the key to stopping racism.

Times were changing. Clothes were changing. Morals were changing. We went from romantic loves songs like I used to do to rock 'n roll. Now that has changed to rap. So there's always a new generation with new music.

Sometimes before we make a record I go back and listen to a few. It's equally humbling and uplifting.

I like to edit my sentences as I write them. I rearrange a sentence many times before moving on to the next one. For me that editing process feels like a form of play like a puzzle that needs solving and it's one of the most satisfying parts of writing.

But you know if you live an affluent lifestyle there are all types of trappings that are there that you have to be cognizant of and you've got to try and communicate freely and gain understanding about and then keep moving on because you know sometimes lifestyles are chosen for us as opposed to us choosing them.

I'm intrigued by films that have a singular vision behind them. A lot of studio movies have ten writers by the time they're done. You have a movie testing 200 times making adjustments according to various people's opinions. It's difficult to have an undistilled vision.

If you go to Sundance the experience that I've had there as a viewer is... there's like a hundred movies there and you've got to figure out what movies are sold out what can you see. Sometimes you go to see movies that you don't know anything about because it just works into your schedule.