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I don't fall into the category of tortured artist. But it's not made me more or less anything.

Music is made one of Satan's most attractive agencies to ensnare souls; but, when turned to a good account, it is a blessing. When abused, it leads the unconsecrated to pride, vanity, and folly.

For a long time, I believed that a great piece of music on its own could do more to stir the soul than any other single art form.

Music is like the soul of the planet.

For too long, musicians have been the greatest enemy of music. Their lack of desire to proselytize is a kind of betrayal.

I think being tortured as a virtue is a kind of antiquated sense of what it is to be an artist. It comes out of that Symbolist idea, back to Rimbaud and all that disordering of the senses and all of that being some exalted state. When I've been that way, I've always been less exalted than I would have liked.

I'm not that kind of Bob Dylan, tortured creative.

I always found the concept of a tortured artist distasteful.

I used to be on the kitchen floor, crying, wasted and thinking of lyrics. That was the only way I could create - as a tortured artist. I've learned that you can be stable and taking care of yourself and still create beautiful work.