I wasn't ever a massive David Essex fan, but I liked a few of his tracks, and Stardust was one of them.

Record covers helped me discover a lot of music that I wasn't aware of.

I studied German at school. I lived in Berlin for two years and had a German girlfriend for five years, so I don't find speaking German particularly difficult. Singing was slightly more difficult.

I didn't expect us to be around after 25 years.

I'm not particularly prolific.

It creates a conflict of interest - what songs would I use for me, and what would I use for the band.

I will be the focal point for however long I decide to play. Half of me likes that idea and half of me doesn't, but once the adrenaline kicks in, I'll probably really enjoy it.

Anything that I write comes from the soul.

I sit down and create atmospheres, start playing guitar or piano and just sing whatever comes out of my mouth.

I lead two totally separate lives. There are times when I have to slip into rock star mode.

The majority of the time I'm at home with my family, I play football three times a week.

I don't write poems and put them to music. Just let things flow.

I tend to like songs that are very emotional, that strike a chord with me emotionally.

There are definite reference points to older Depeche Mode records.

I like their darkness but I also like the pop-side of the Velvet Underground.

When people meet me I think they're surprised to find out I'm not always angst-ridden.

I wasn't ever a massive David Essex fan, but I liked a few of his tracks, and Stardust was one of them.

There haven't been many credible electronic covers records.

Once I'd chosen the songs, it seemed like it would just be a question then of recording them. But it's a case of trying to re-invent the songs; taking them in different directions.

Music is really all about experimentation and lots of trial and error. It's just mind-numbingly boring until you hit on something that works well.

I didn't write songs for a very long time.

I do a cover of a Velvet Underground song, and they were one of the most important bands, for me.

Our music over the years has been very cinematic. It's surprising we never really got into film soundtracks.

I always hate explaining away songs, because for me they mean something, and for other people, they'll mean something absolutely different.

People are People still gets played to death on '80s stations. It was our first big break in America. It's not exactly my favorite song.

As part of Depeche Mode, I don't think it's right for me to be using my own songs for a solo project. I'm not a very prolific songwriter, so I keep those for Depeche Mode.

I even have nephews who make music, my daughter makes music. I don't know what advice to give them these days. It's really a tough industry to break into.

If you took music out of my life, I don't know what I'd do. It's the one thing that I have a real passion for.

Kids today don't know that much about vinyl.

Technology is a bit of a double-edged sword. Used right, it's a wonderful tool, but unfortunately, it makes it easier for a lot of mediocre people to get really crappy ideas out.

When I write a song, I always start on acoustic guitar, because that's a good test of a song, when it's really open and bare. You can often mislead yourself if you start with computers and samples and programming because you can disguise a bad song.

It was so exciting to go to the record shop and buy a piece of vinyl and hold it, read the liner notes, look at the pictures. Even the smell of the vinyl.

The fortress of Europe with its frontiers must be held and will be held too, as long as is necessary.

You just wait. I'm going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.

The boy gathers materials for a temple and then when he is thirty concludes to build a woodshed.

Salt is the difference between eating in Technicolor and eating in black and white.

Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking.

Covetousness which is idolatry.

I would wear the blue overalls of the fieldworker and often wore round, rimless glasses known as Mazzawati teaglasses. I had a car, and I wore a chauffeur's cap with my overalls. The pose of chauffeur was convenient because I could travel under the pretext of driving my master's car.

I entered politics from a completely different background from other people in this field, and that has helped me to see and deal with things differently.

There are people who cannot enjoy a pleasure unless they have first persuaded themselves that it is a duty. They are perhaps the most confirmed hedonists of all for they are not content to enjoy without the added delight of conscious rectitude.

To discover the true principles of Morality, men have no need of theology, of revelation, or of gods: They have need only of common sense.

I spend five times more money at a chemist shop than I would at a fashion boutique. Clothes shopping is optional for me; shopping at a chemist store is a must.

And anything that might hurt me would just make me stronger in the end.

Just because I worked in fashion doesn't mean I didn't go to see 'Underworld' three times!

In 2010, I proposed that Congress take its first pay cut in 77 years, and my effort had bipartisan support. And as part of leading by example, I returned 5 percent of my paycheck every month to pay down the debt.

If you don't have work for a border collie or time to train it properly, your bright young border collie will invent his own work, and chances are you won't like it.

You cant leave footprints in the sands of time while sitting down.

It's a tough transition really for theater actors to adjust to television or film, and all of these years later, I still have a tendency to play it too big.