"It is a humble truth that when purpose is clear, every obstacle transforms into a stepping stone."

"It is a quiet truth that patience is not passive waiting; it is active endurance with a calm countenance."

"Willem de Kooning is generally credited for coming out of the painterly gates strong in the forties, revolutionizing art and abstraction and reaching incredible heights by the early fifties, and then tailing off."

"To engage with art, we have to be willing to be wrong, venture outside our psychic comfort zones, suspend disbelief, and remember that art explores and alters consciousness simultaneously."

"I think 'Tattoo''s a song that can go so many different ways. Some people think of it as a break-up song, but, for me, it's about somebody who comes into your life and really touches you - be they a friend, a family member or someone you're in a relationship with."

"I think it is totally wrong and terribly harmful if education is defined as acquiring knowledge."

"People always try to find my agenda, but I don't really have one. It's safe to say that I make pop, but I think that I'm doing important music, too. I've just always done what I wanted to do."

"An education which does not cultivate the will is an education that depraves the mind."