Prince

It's work to play the same songs the same way for 70 shows.

You don't need a record company to turn you into anything.

I used to have seizures when I was young. My mother and father didn't know what to do or how to handle it but they did the best they could with what little they had.

When I started playing music, people weren't selling 5 million records. That was not the standard; that was not the focus.

I don't know who was the one that came up with the notion that you have to play the same songs every concert.

Well, my musicians are my friends.

It gets embarrassing to say something untrue because you put it online and everyone knows about it, so it's better to tell the truth.

When I first started out in this music industry, I was most concerned with freedom. Freedom to produce, freedom to play all the instruments on my records, freedom to say anything I wanted to.

Music is real. It affects people; it's real.

I've always understood the two to be intertwined: sexuality and spirituality. That never changed.

Record contracts are just like - I'm gonna say the word - slavery. I would tell any young artist... don't sign.

My mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, 'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said 'Why?' and I said 'Because an angel told me so.' Now, I don't remember saying it; that's just what she told me.

Too much freedom can lead to the soul's decay.

Art is about building a new foundation, not just laying something on top of what's already there.

Look, you see those groups talkin' about negativity and anger, and they'd do that for two albums, and then you'd see them change up. I knew they couldn't do a Kurt Cobain on their whole career. You can't stay like that all the time. It's like when Hammer tried to go gangster. You can't be something that you're not.

A strong spirit transcends rules.

I’m still very much a kid inside myself.

Money won't buy you happiness, but it'll pay for the search