White folks hear the blues come out, but they don't know how it got there.

White folks hear the blues come out, but they don't know how it got there.

They hear it come out, but they don't know how it got there. They don't understand that's life's way of talking. You don't sing to feel better. You sing 'cause that's a way of understanding life.

I'm never, like I say, I'm never happy, I'm never satisfied, it's never good enough.

The space and light up there in Norfolk is wonderfully peaceful. I find myself doing funny things like gardening, and cooking, which I rarely do in London.

I'm for economic independence.

It doesn't always click for a new player in a new team: you don't always go in and hit the ground running and score all the time.

For me, music makes my smile brighter during my workouts. It adds that extra something that motivates me to go further or work harder!

Rebellion makes for queer bedfellows. And none more queer than this fat man and me.

Marvin Gaye is one of my favorite revolutionaries. He spoke from his heart, his mind. That's what I want to do.

Power is natural, but it can be improved with a lot of work. It's been something I've focused on for a couple of years because I saw it as a place where I could make improvements.

If I have an hour in a city, I go to vintage stores first because it's so much cooler to find a piece that is unique. I love the thought of some girl having worn it before and living her life in it.

When I'm in Senegal, I can't just sit in isolation making music. People need my help. And the Senegalese people helped create my music. It comes from the country itself.

Baseball has been my favorite sport all my life.

I think there's something very lovely and hilarious about exploring the particular neuroses of the female mind. It's just not the same thing with men. I mean, there are exceptions, but for the most part, women beat themselves up in their heads more. They overanalyze stuff far more than men do.

I can do a book in three months if I spend all day, seven days a week at it and, in fact, I work better that way.

Wearing a baseball cap or sleeveless shirt in a white-tablecloth restaurant is rude and makes other diners upset, just like someone on a cellphone.

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

I don't think an artist should always know why they gravitate toward something or someone. You are just drawn to things, and that's OK.

Not every anti-Semite is Joseph Goebbels. You can not like Jews much and be no great harm to them.

The Arab spring confirmed that peaceful change is possible and so reinforced the vision of political Islam. The impact of this went beyond the Brotherhood to include the Salafist tendency in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya that had questioned the democratic path.

I can no more think of my own life without thinking of wine and wines and where they grew for me and why I drank them when I did and why I picked the grapes and where I opened the oldest procurable bottles, and all that, than I can remember living before I breathed.

The more uncompromisingly specific you are the more you end up touching the bigger universal truths.

I was pretty nervous when I met Robert DeNiro. I kind of felt like a kid in a candy store for the first time. I couldn't wipe the grin off of my face. But Bobby DeNiro was really, really sweet and made me feel very comfortable. He's very low-key and just a superstar professional, and totally someone to be admired.

Like getting into a bleeding competition with a blood bank.

Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.

Every disadvantage has its advantage.