"The first time that you escape from home or the small town that you live in - there's a reason a small town is called a small town: It's because not many people want to live there."

"School is practice for the future, and practice makes perfect. But nobody's perfect, so why practice?"

"Set lists are tough because you come up with this structure of how the songs are going to go from one to the next, but at the same time, you have to be spontaneous and take requests and change the set list at the drop of a hat."

"Punk has always been about doing things your own way. What it represents for me is ultimate freedom and a sense of individuality."

"There are a few writers that one has a relationship with that means, basically, you do whatever they say. One is Caryl Churchill, and the other is David Hare."

"Look at what President Kennedy managed to achieve during the Cuban missile crisis. If Bush had been president in 1962, do you think he would have avoided a nuclear war?"

"We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique."

"There is small risk a general will be regarded with contempt by those he leads, if, whatever he may have to preach, he shows himself best able to perform."