Greatness occurs when your children love you, when your critics respect you and when you have peace of mind.

Unfortunately, America doesn't have a minister of culture, and I don't understand why. It's really bad for young people.

Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable.

I lost my mother when I was 7 and they put her in a mental hospital. My brother and I watched her being taken away in a strait jacket. That's something you never forget. And my stepmother was like in the movie 'Precious.' I couldn't handle it. So I said to myself, 'I don't have a mother. I don't need one. I'm going to let music be my mother.'

Seattle is like a global gumbo, a melting pot with all kinds of people - the rich, the poor, white people, some Chinese, Filipino, Jewish and black people - they're all here.

You have to know that your real home is within.

Young people should travel, and they don't. You can't know if you don't go.

I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever.

When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.