"I have a long-standing history of respecting artists' wishes."

"In the '80s, I was putting out an album virtually every year, I think mostly based on fear - that if I didn't, people would soon forget about me."

"People never ask people doing serious music, 'Do you ever think about doing funny music?'"

"It's hard to force creativity and humor."

"Celebrate what you want to see more of."

"I get people to truly accept themselves unconditionally, whether or not their therapist or anyone loves them."

"I usually write for the individual reader -though I would like to have many such readers. There are some poets who write for people assembled in big rooms, so they can live through something collectively. I prefer my reader to take my poem and have a one-on-one relationship with it."

"Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds."