For me as an artist, the expansiveness of my interests and my influences make me enigmatic. I think any man can be that way - if you love enough interesting things.

I want a world where everything is welcome, everything is valid, everything is acknowledged, embraced, and accepted. To me, that's a perfect world.

I related to 'A Clockwork Orange' in a personal way. I was a bit of a thug growing up. It's taken some reform for me. Thank God for artistry and creativity as an outlet.

Music definitely gave me a focus. I was an artist without an outlet. Let's just say if I was not famous, I could have been infamous. I could've had my own episode of 'American Gangster.'

On a good day I think I'm handsome, on an average day I'm average. I'm a man's man so I don't necessarily know how cute we're supposed to be.

Balance is key. Balance is a virtue. Balance is next to godliness, maybe. We should all aspire to better balance. Too much of what is said in this world is one-sided, and we need more balance - in our speech, in our music, in our art, in everything.

Rock n' roll is not just a fashion statement; it is the attitude, and it has a political posturing as well.

Women are our most miraculous muse, an enchanted intangibility that encourages all art.

Emotion is something that you don't simply receive. Emotion is compelled. Other than that, we're just shells until we're possessed or reanimated from time to time by different emotions.

I think I wanted to be a punk-rocker before I wanted to be anything else. I remember wanting a mohawk, and I wanted to cut the sleeves off of my jean jacket because I used to want to be Dirty Dan from Sha-Na-Na. This is before hip-hop was even around. I had the skinny piano tie. I had it, man.

Gnarls Barkley is an alter ego and something like an out of body experience.

Antique things have an appreciation and worth. Something can be old, but it can be timeless; therefore, it becomes an antique. If this antique is preserved and deemed precious, it could be passed down as a family heirloom.

I've been such an oddball my whole life, but I've always been cool and I've always dressed fairly smartly.

I'm a little lavish I must admit. But I'm not really concerned with money. Being rich is not my goal, being wealthy is.

Tolerance, compromise, understanding, acceptance, patience - I want those all to be very sharp tools in my shed.

I tend to like antique things. Something can be old, but it can be timeless.

The fact that you can love something that you've lost is all the incentive you need to love again, as opposed to becoming comfortably numb.

I thought everybody would embrace and understand my reasons for becoming Muslim.

I think kids relate to me because I have some ability to remain a little bit naive. Even during interviews. Mostly during interviews.

Businesswomen are fine. But they shouldn't be forced to pay for the raising of the family. It's the husband's job. That's the way I see it.

Considering the fact that I have been in the spotlight more or less since I was 18, there is an aspect of normality to my public profile, which I have grown to live with. As much as I would like to disappear into the crowd, my work won't let me - difficult as it is for my family.

I believe Islam was truly spread by example. So whatever good a Muslim does publicly will be seen - the same is true for the bad.

Maybe some people may have thought or imagined that Islam drains all creativity. In fact, when you look at history, you discover that the golden age of Spain is what actually produced what we call the guitar.

The private little world that I create with my music is something that most people like to listen to alone and get into.