When an audience comes to one of my concerts, I hope they'll see themselves, somewhere, in one of the songs.

When the students were killed at Kent State, the cast voted to do a demonstration from the stage, and I abstained.

White middle- and upper-class men have a longer journey to go than many people.

You can't just leave out one part; the bread won't rise if the yeast isn't there.

You just keep feeding hogwash to people, and pretty soon they'll eat it.

It's been important to me to be a good activist, a good thinker, a good musician, a good singer, and a good entertainer. You can't do it all, but I have walked those delicate lines as best I know how.

People love to hear the mistakes you've made.

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

We who are interested in relative truth have to keep digging for it and not let ourselves be sucked under.

I like this life. I like it when it's hard, and I like it better when it's not, but I know you don't get the sweet part without the bitter.

I'm not allowing my perspective to be dictated by the dominant culture.

Part of being an artist is being willing to be shocked, being willing to be surprised, being willing to be hurt.

The women's movement completely changed attitudes all over the world in ways we'll never be able to count.

To be always in a state of wonder is a kind of sensitivity that can sometimes be an extraordinary blessing and sometimes a real pain.

When we make mistakes, say, I'm blessed that I have an opportunity to learn from this.

Music can be used against us as much as it can be used for us. Muzak can put a whole nation to sleep, whereas a lullaby is intended to put a child to sleep in a sweet way.

A lot of artists say, I'm not political. People are afraid of this word.

I don't believe in nirvana. If nirvana was handed to us on a silver platter, this would be the first day of our struggle to keep it.

If I didn't think and feel the way I think and feel, I couldn't sing the way I sing. And I like singing the way I sing.