"Doing the box set is one of those things where you get to rewrite your own history to some extent. We could take out some of the songs that we felt weren't as strong as some of the others, so you look better."

"Occasionally, I hanker for the time when I sold more records, but I don't sit and drool about it. When I do look at early footage of Talking Heads, I realise I was just a wreck."

"Work aside, we come to New York for the possibility of interaction and inspiration."

"I can't deny that label-support gave me a leg up - though not every successful artist needs it."

"Maybe every city has a unique sensibility, but we don't have names for what they are or haven't identified them all. We can't pinpoint exactly what makes each city's people unique yet."

"I think I had a mild case of Asperger's as a younger guy, but that typically just wears off after a while. For some people, anyway."

"I meet young people who know me and are familiar with my stuff. They know the package. They might have cherry-picked five or six key tunes. That's how it seems to work. I sometimes wonder if they realise they are not getting the whole context."

"When I was in high school, there were these British blues-rock-type bands with really good guitar players that would jam on one song for half an hour. And as much as I was amazed by some of those guitar players, seeing them prompted me to make a note that that's not something I could do."

"Music has to be sort of ignorable sometimes."

"I've rarely seen video screens used well in a music concert."

"The wage for most musicians is a modest amount, and that includes me some of the time."

"I don't listen to the radio very much, but that could be because I don't have a car."

"I try to devote my afternoons to making music in my home studio, but it's a lot more fun hanging out with musicians and friends, and trying subtly to influence a band than making your own stuff."

"Artists are notoriously snooty and suspicious of anything coming from the business community."

"I've noticed that when I am selling a lot of records, certain things become easier. I'm not talking about getting a table in a restaurant."

"I'm concerned that my technical skills have advanced to the point where I can get closer to what I'm aiming for, which is not such a good thing."

"I think I had a mild case of Asperger's as a younger guy, but that typically just wears off after a while."

"The making of music is profoundly affected by the market."

"Ninety percent of all music is always crap, and when too many people decide they're going to have guitar bands, then ninety percent of them are going to be crap. It's just a given law."

"I think sometimes - not always - I write songs that are accessible."

"There are plenty of people who are, I think, completely racist who love hip-hop."

"We tend to mistake music for the physical object."

"I've never had writer's block."

"I am an immigrant with a Green Card and, therefore, I am not eligible to vote in a federal election."