A lot of artists say, I'm not political. People are afraid of this word.

You just keep feeding hogwash to people, and pretty soon they'll eat it.

It is essential that men start being interested in and excited by how women think.

Part of keeping space open is not to try to choose a form - to spend more time thinking about content, and let form take care of itself.

Music can be used against us as much as it can be used for us. Muzak can put a whole nation to sleep, whereas a lullaby is intended to put a child to sleep in a sweet way.

My parents had been involved in the labor movement; if we'd grown up in the city, we would have been red-diaper babies.

To my great surprise and pleasure, I have had dinner with most of the people living with whom I would like to have dinner.

Once women are not excluded, I don't think any of us will give a damn what pronouns are used. That wasn't the point.

I don't believe in nirvana. If nirvana was handed to us on a silver platter, this would be the first day of our struggle to keep it.

A lot of artists say, I'm not political. People are afraid of this word.

When an audience comes to one of my concerts, I hope they'll see themselves, somewhere, in one of the songs.

You can't just leave out one part; the bread won't rise if the yeast isn't there.

When we make mistakes, say, I'm blessed that I have an opportunity to learn from this.

I like this life. I like it when it's hard, and I like it better when it's not, but I know you don't get the sweet part without the bitter.

We who are interested in relative truth have to keep digging for it and not let ourselves be sucked under.

It's been important to me to be a good activist, a good thinker, a good musician, a good singer, and a good entertainer. You can't do it all, but I have walked those delicate lines as best I know how.

Language is like songs, like food, like dance-it is the expression of what we think.

When the students were killed at Kent State, the cast voted to do a demonstration from the stage, and I abstained.

To be always in a state of wonder is a kind of sensitivity that can sometimes be an extraordinary blessing and sometimes a real pain.

My parents encouraged thought. You'll get through life better if you learn how to think.

My creativity and my political work are linked. I don't do this work out of guilt or out of responsibility.

To come to a concert and hear a lot of songs from a female perspective should not make men say, 'Oh well, that's for women'.

If I didn't think and feel the way I think and feel, I couldn't sing the way I sing. And I like singing the way I sing.

Leaping away from my mistakes has propelled me forward. It has great force behind it. It makes for great storytelling.

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?

The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

Part of being an artist is being willing to be shocked, being willing to be surprised, being willing to be hurt.

I'm not allowing my perspective to be dictated by the dominant culture.

People love to hear the mistakes you've made.

The women's movement completely changed attitudes all over the world in ways we'll never be able to count.

White middle- and upper-class men have a longer journey to go than many people.

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

You can't just leave out one part; the bread won't rise if the yeast isn't there.

But I found a lot of artists at the Cedar Bar were difficult for me to talk to.

Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will-whatever we may think.

I got to sit down with people who I admired, and have conversations with some of the greatest thinkers and artists and performers. It's a huge privilege for me to be a journalist.

I don't believe in art. I believe in artists.

David Cronenberg knows what we actors do as artists.

The truth is, we haven't really figured out yet how artists are going to thrive in modern mass societies. We're all experiments.

Many of the artists who have represented Negro life have seen only the comic, ludicrous side of it, and have lacked sympathy with and appreciation for the warm big heart that dwells within such a rough exterior.

A great thing happening now in art is that artists are using the figure, the body, clothing, life.

The number of contemporary artists who appeal to me is infinitesimal.

I have to plead basic ignorance of most new jazz artists here.

Music is art, art is life, and we are who we are, and all of these aforementioned women, unless they should choose not to, will be performing well into the next many decades because they are great artists.

Because when the film was first mooted, the Beatles didn't like the idea at all. In fact they wouldn't have any part in it. And when Brian had committed them, it was part of a deal he did with United Artists, I think.

Artists are like everybody else.

When artists make art, they shouldn't question whether it is permissible to do one thing or another.

My proudest achievement has been the success of the shows and artists I have been involved with, because they were made in Britain.