"What I believe is that marriage is between a man and a woman, but what I also believe is that we have an obligation to make sure that gays and lesbians have the rights of citizenship that afford them visitations to hospitals, that allow them to be, to transfer property between partners, to make certain that they're not discriminated on the job."

"But let me perfectly clear, because I know you'll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime."

"We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential."

"People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time."

"Without music, life would be a mistake."

"My first two records are so simply constructed. The reason isn't because I wanted to make simple music. It's because I don't really have the chops."

"Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art."

"Agressive music can only shock you once. Afterwards its impact declines. It's inevitable."