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" There are a lot of recurring themes that I resonated with when I read 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.' "

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" I was always drawn to gospel music and the roots of African-American music. It's the foundation of rock and roll. "

" I'm reading a lot of poetry because it's a lot easier to dip in and dip out when you've got 10 minutes to yourself. "

" I like playing with light and shade. I like saying awful things in very pretty ways. "

" I didn't know what to expect of real America. What shocked me was the diversity of it and how different every city is. But also just how polite and usually good-willed and optimistic most Americans are. "

" By nature, I'm an awkward person; I'm a gangly introvert. "

" It sounds like I'm joking when I say it, but when I wrote 'Take Me To Church' and a lot of these things, I didn't think they would be hits. I thought I was writing for a potentially smaller audience. "

" I'm always eager to make new music. "

" I feel my duty is to make music. "

" I'm influenced a lot by Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, even Paul Weller - Billie Holiday as well: People who wrote and sang songs that were reflective of their times. I quite like that. I quite admire that. "

" Rarely do I finish a song lyrically before I have a musical idea there, but then again, rarely ever would I finish a song musically before starting the lyrical ideas. So a lot of the time, they come in tandem, or they just come at a glance. "

" I know I'm not the kind of music that's going to have tons of screaming fans, and I'm not gonna be everyone's cup of tea. I just want to do as good a job as I can. "

" I was essentially raised on blues music. My dad was a blues musician around Dublin when I was a baby, so the only music I would listen to growing up was John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. It's music that feels like home to me. "

" I love the sound of voices singing together, congregational singing, anything like gospel, or folk, or sea shanties. I spent quite a bit of time in choirs growing up, and in the world-touring music group, Anuna. It's a sound with very rich texture, voices singing together. "

" I spent quite a bit of time in choirs, growing up, and in the world-touring music group Anuna. "

" I try to be happy. I try to face things without regret or make sure that I'm happy with things and leave nothing unsaid if I can. "

" The public discourse online is not done through the polite language of debate. "

" I find lyrics can come at any time during the day, as can music. "

" Certainly in the case of having to answer questions about where a song comes from, it's a hell of a lot easier when you say, 'I've removed myself from it.' But they start from quite a personal place. They always do. "

" I found the experience of falling in love or being in love was a death: a death of everything. You kind of watch yourself die in a wonderful way, and you experience for the briefest moment - if you see yourself for a moment through their eyes - everything you believed about yourself gone. In a death-and-rebirth sense. "

" I think it's very hard to write things about being joyful. I find that quite difficult. I think when you're happy, you don't want to write songs; you just want to enjoy being happy. "

" It was amazing for me to even perform at the Grammys, but to do so alongside Annie Lennox was a truly incredible honor. "

" I'm still finding my feet in many ways as a performer. I'm not an extrovert, and certainly the attention isn't what drew me to it, and I find that quite jarring at times. I used to stress a lot about shows and get palpitations before shows, but eventually you learn to love it, and it is a thrill. "

" The more I come to L.A., the more it's amazing. "

" I figured the songs wouldn't make much of a splash. I didn't think 'Take Me To Church' would play on the radio or get in the charts, and I didn't think about dealing with a global audience. "

" I hate nightclubs, and I get fed up very quickly in crowded rooms. I enjoy being around people I know. "

" I think marriage is a scary concept. It's a scary concept for anybody. I'm not sure where I sit with that. "

" Growing up in Ireland, there are a lot of aspects of God that hang in the air. And my music reflects that. "

" Someone had an eye on me as I was leaving high school. I had a chance to record demos, but they were kind of wanting to make a pop singer out of me, of the 'X Factor' variety. I didn't feel comfortable with it. I wanted to be a songwriter. "

" I would love to get in trouble with the Catholic Church. I'm not religious myself, but my issue is with the organization. It's an organization of men - it's not about faith. "

" For me growing up, I had a Christian upbringing, and I just noticed this Catholic influence in school. "