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" One of my favorite modern American authors is Denis Johnson. I'm deeply inspired by all of his work - I rip him off constantly. "

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" When everything is lonely I can be my best friend. "

" I always embrace the worst-case scenario. "

" Love's an excuse to get hurt. "

" There's a lot of optimism in changing scenery, in seeing what's down the road. "

" I have a terrible memory in general, but one thing I've always been able to remember is my songs. "

" You can only really understand good if you have bad, so the idea of heaven or anything that happens for eternity, even if it's nice, I can't imagine it being nice forever. Even the idea of forever is kind of ridiculous, which is unfortunate because it's kind of a nice thing to say, you know. "

" It's very strange when people get so focused on what a song means, what actual events inspired a song. That gets people really excited for some reason... But that's what's great about music - however people interpret it, whatever they see, is what I want to be there for them. "

" It's dangerous to buy into praise and criticism for what you do when you're trying to present your music to people. I don't ignore it completely, but I don't dwell on it too much. "

" A boycott is, inherently, a blunt instrument. It is an imperfect weapon, a carpet bomb, when all involved would prefer a surgical strike. "

" The best feeling I ever get is when I finish a song, and it exists, and it didn't exist before, and now it's there, and it makes me feel a certain way. "

" I'm very interested in writing - it just takes so much discipline, whether it's short stories or novels. "

" I know a girl who cries when she practices violin because each note sounds so pure it just cuts into her, and then the melody comes pouring out her eyes. Now, to me, everything else just sounds like a lie. "

" Art is essentially communication. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. That's why people make art, so other people can relate to it. "

" Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of my all-time favorite writers. I feel spiritual when reading his words, even though they're translated. I wish desperately that I could read it in its original language. I already feel like I'm going to church when I read him; imagine if I could read it in the original. "

" Art is basically communication, and I think everyone who's a music lover has had that experience where a record or a recording has kept you company when no one else is around. And I think that is what I'm hoping that people get out of my music. "

" I like the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. I love how it's been rained on forever and looks worn down by time. "

" When you're 16 or 17, I think like most people that age, the first time you experience certain things in life, whether it's heartbreak or death or love, obviously it's going to seem like a much bigger deal. "

" I like ideas, but I don't like being preached to. "

" I have a lot of friends that take that position of extreme cynicism, and I just can't let myself go to that place. It's just too easy, and it's just too defeatist. "

" I kind of go in waves with reading. Sometimes I read all the time, and sometimes I can't get settled enough to focus. "

" There's all body types, but there's just one size. "

" Pronouns really don't matter in a song - 'I' or 'he' or 'she' or even subscribing a lyric to an inanimate object. "

" Movement has been one of the few constants in my life, and I always feel a great sense of optimism when I set off to a new place. "

" The idea of forever is kind of ridiculous, which is unfortunate because it's kind of a nice thing to say, you know. I think it softens the blow of mortality and having to say goodbye to everything you know and everyone you love and all that kind of thing. "

" Although Omaha is my birthplace and the place I grew up, I don't see myself spending extended amounts of time there. I feel almost more comfortable and more at peace in New York. "

" I went right from wunderkind to washed up. Old. Been around too long. That's just the way I feel. That's my internal dialogue. "

" No lies, just love. "

" We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul. "

" If there's a criticism of 'Cassadaga' that I agreed with, it's that we left things in the oven too long, that songs were overstuffed, with too many ideas competing for space. "

" If there's a song that stops meaning anything to me, then I'll quit playing it. "