“I have no idea how to be an artist and a lover, so I chose the one most likely to make me happy when I'm eighty and gazing back on a long and productive life.”

“Music is always the first thing I notice when I go someplace new.”

“Writing catchy pop songs is a super-minor superpower, but it's mine.”

“Sad songs are not my strong suit. All the songs that have saved my life make you feel like driving with the top down or dancing in your room with your best friend.”

“Passion is never pathetic.”

“Nothing's better for art than a little old-fashioned suffering.”

“To create art with all the passion in one's soul is to live art with all the beauty in one's heart.”

“art is risk made visible”

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”