The core of literature is the idea of tragedy. . . You don't really learn much from the good things that happen to you.
You know Chuck, Buddy, and Elvis paved the road. The roots are deep inside us, it's the rhythm in our soul.
I meditate and I also think about meditation. Which is funny. I think about Maharishi, about just the idea of meditating. It gives me something.
I sit and I write automatically. I don't really try to write. My subconscious mind takes over and writes the songs for me. Songs come very easily for me. When I'm inspired, it takes me 20 minutes to write a song.
All of the artists did such a beautiful job I can’t thank them enough. I’m just honored that God Only Knows was chosen. God Only Knows is a very special song. An extremely spiritual song and one of the best I’ve ever written.
I think about God, yes, and I wonder if there is a God. And if there is a God, will God please help me through my hard trips.
You're called a genius by people, and then your whole life you become the part.
Your brain has a capacity for learning that is virtually limitless, which makes every human a potential genius.
I used to smoke marijuana, but that was when I was in college, before it was a drug.
The transition from Religion to Scientific contemplation is a violent, dangerous leap, which is not to be recommended. In order to make this transition, art is far rather to be employed to relieve the mind overburdened with emotions. Out of the illogical comes much good. It is so firmly rooted in the passions, in language, in art, in religion, and generally in everything which gives value to life. It is only the naive people who can believe that the nature of man can be changed into a purely logical one. We have yet to learn that others can suffer, and this can never be completely learned.
I went from living in my dad's basement to moving to New York. So I never had that middle ground of easing into adulthood.