So I try not to have any actual expectations for myself for any level of success or failure.

There's always some amount of gradual, slow burning destruction over the course of partying.

I think listening to real classic soul material made me learn how to feel music that's sung.

I don't really take a step back too often to see what's going on.

But I've never considered myself any kind of heartthrob. It sounds painful.

I'm very competitive, and my ego couldn't handle that lack of success.

So when you start touring, women are definitely going to check you out first.

I guess I'm happy that I'm getting the attention. Otherwise, I'd just be playing in a local bar in front of my family members, and I'm sure they'd get sick of that in no time.

Women are the first to jump on what is fashionable.

I took a lot of time to open myself up to taking chances musically.

I may never get my own action figure, but at least I think what I'm doing is really legitimate musically.

So I try not to have any actual expectations for myself for any level of success or failure.

I'm like a junkie for writing.

I could tell it was a popular move as a writer to walk down the bass lines while you were writing a song.

I can do a gig without an instrument.

I don't want to see Superman replaced with Superboy.

We have a George Foreman grill on the bus.

You can be a singer, and you can be a guitar player, but putting them together is another animal.

So if I was dating somebody now and the relationship didn't work out, I'd take that as failing.

I live in a bus and go from place to place and sometimes feel very detached from what's going on.

My dad didn't want me to play guitar. He played piano, so I chose that. And I ended up loving it.

I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately.

Playing in front of people is a lot different from playing in your room.

When my grandfather died, I started adopting some of his accents, to sort of remind myself of him. A homage. He was a war hero, and he was really great with his hands.

I happen to be a guy who also plays the piano and sings, so people automatically associate me with Billy Joel.

The early Billy Joel stuff I fell in love with, like Glass Houses, is a real rock record.

I love to play music.

I don't take my clothes off in my videos.

I was introduced to country music around a campfire on a farm.

I like to do the splits onstage.

When people put that sort of pressure on you, you're worried that people won't want to receive you.

So yeah, I play the piano for most of the show, but I like rock and roll.

When I was a kid I got busted for throwing a rock through a car window and egging a house on halloween.

It's not my goal to be a famous actor.

I miss that sensation of a small achievement feeling like a really big deal.

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.

Lucas attended a conference on rational expectations at the University of Minnesota in the spring of 1973. The day after the conference, I received a call from Pittsburgh.

Let your dreams outgrow the shoes of your expectations.

Holidays in general breed unrealistic expectations. The minute you start wondering, 'is it going to be wonderful enough?,' it never will be.

I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You can't work on a film for six years without being your own toughest critic. So you can't really be distracted by the expectations based on your previous performance.

I believe every chess player senses beauty, when he succeeds in creating situations, which contradict the expectations and the rules, and he succeeds in mastering this situation.

They flooded liquidity in the marketplace but the mortgage rate is based much more on expectations of inflation. So if the average investor believes that there is inflation coming, they'll move that rate up.

I'd rather play here in this small bar and just do a good show. Because it's fun and there's no expectations, it's encouragement to be different, do something new.

I do my best not to have any expectations when I go into a movie because it's not fair.

Dreaming is one thing, and working towards the dream is one thing, but working with expectations in mind is very self-defeating.

Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.

The people who don't like it tend to dislike it intensely. That's unfortunate, but not surprising when one deliberately goes against audience expectations.

We will not fail your expectations of us as a new nation dedicated to peace, democracy, and freedom.

The position that I take partly as a result of living in Asia is where you stop living according to your expectations and you become available to experience things as they are.