Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill manners.
I do believe that if you haven't learnt about sadness, you cannot appreciate happiness.
When you want something very dearly, you make the time.
One of the most wonderful memories in my life was when I sang at the Opera House in Sydney. I will never forget that. It is one of the most beautiful Houses I have ever sung in my life.
It's nice to look good, but the most important thing is to be you.
How you looked was not important. It was what you did and how you did it. Decide to do it and then do it the best way you can.
I think sometimes you are born with a song.
I think one of the best things you can do is write really sad songs that touch some semblance of. . . I guess 'hope' is the right word?
I think the biggest pushback comes from people who perceive me to be a threat. Having bloggers who are dedicated to making up false information about you, having anonymous people write nasty emails and letters, having organizations file legal requests for your work-related emails, and all the other things that happen can be very depressing and discouraging.
To perceive means to immobilize. . . we seize, in the act of perception, something which outruns perception itself.
. . . The books we need are the kind that act upon us like a misfortune, that make us suffer like the death of someone we love more than ourselves, that make us feel as though we were on the verge of suicide, or lost in a forest remote from all human habitation-a book should serve as an axe for the frozen sea within us.