I never wanted to leave the Smashing Pumpkins. That was never the plan.

I'm sort of like a lame, single guy in a red sports car.

It just doesn't work without the others.

You will never see the four original Pumpkins on stage ever again, unless it's a Hall of Fame thing. But you would never see a tour. There's so much damage, there's no way.

James, that's a bad situation. I'm not saying it's not repairable, but it's pretty far. When you go from being in one of the best bands in the world to some cover band... as far as I'm concerned, he was playing down at the pub.

As a citizen of the great city of Chicago, I find it impossible to root against the White Sox. The White Sox organization has been much more consistent, in my lifetime at least, at putting a winning ballclub on the field.

My pat line about the Cubs and payroll is that the amount of merchandise the Cubs would sell off a world series championship would more than cover for a big payroll.

I lay a lot of blame at the feet of Dusty Baker for not being more strict about fundamentals, which I think would give the team a stronger day-to-day identity.

I believe that if the Tribune company ever tries to close down Wrigley Field that you will have a protest from every corner of the globe.

Your basic person wants to talk about material culture, internet culture. I think about God, cats, nature.

Saturn Return is just the return of your planets to their original position.

I didn't grow up with my mother, and so losing her for real was like, some sort of latent childhood, some sort of unresolved issue. When she left for real, it was sort of like, I was done.

I've always been spiritual but I've never had a proper context, and it took me awhile to find the proper context. It's hard to realize you can have any kind of relationship with God you want... and so I now have a punk rock relationship with God.

I don't have to play by these rules or do these things... I can actually have my own kind of version.

I was brought up Roman Catholic. I'm not even baptized.

I walked away from going to church when I was 8. I didn't set foot in another church until I was 28.

If I have resistance to something, it means there's something wrong. The resistance to me is a sign of fear.

There's a difference between being a poseur and being someone who's so emotionally challenged they're kind of just doing their best to show you what they've got.

For someone who's had the level of success I've had, there's been very little critical review of my work, which is pretty fascinating.

I was raised a Christian, but I wouldn't call myself a Christian now. I think when I was younger it was easier to focus on the negative, nihilist vision... this is sort of picking up on the other half of the body, which is God and white light.

I didn't find Jesus. He's been there the whole time.

My version, of course, is not this flag-waving, let's all get on the Jesus train and ride out of hell. I'm not that kind of guy. It's an embrace that life is good, worth living and yeah, it's not easy, but there are more pluses than minuses.

I feel like I'm always fighting not to repeat myself.

I'm definitely responsible for coming in with some basic chord changes, or ideas. Everybody in the band looks to me to come up with the basic seed, so it's not very productive to come in with nothing.

I'll come in with a string of riffs and direct the musical ideas. But you still need a band and their input to make the ideas come alive. You can't underestimate band chemistry.

In the beginning, though, I have to admit that I did have a chip on my shoulder. I did want to prove everyone wrong. But after I went through the process and came out the other side, it wasn't about anyone else.

The deeper I get into my life as a musician, I'm discovering that it becomes less and less about other people, and more about what I want to do. And that's a good place to be.

I'm viewed as this weird, crippled character. But you got to take your lumps.

The funny thing about me that most people never really understand is that, at heart, I'm really a jock.

I had concussions as a kid playing football and basketball, and know what it feels like and to have someone say 'Just rub some dirt on it, and get back in there.'

Injuries are nothing to be ashamed about.

I've seen foreigners really shift on their view of America, and that's hard for me to take.

I still believe in my country.

You've got to be ready to be in a great relationship.

In our lives in a lot of ways it's all about fake. You've got people wanting things for fake reasons.

It's a simple formula for me now, I don't play any song I don't want to play.

I tend to be reactionary.

Somewhere between the intellectual idea of why we're attracted to certain things and the pragmatic reality is some form of ever-evolving truth.

I had such a big mouth for so long that it doesn't faze anybody anymore.

Indie world won't have me, and mainstream world treats me like an alien, but here I am still floating between these two worlds.

I look at other members of my generation who have basically done one thing, and one thing well, and have been handsomely rewarded for it.

I'm attacking the pomposity that says this is more valuable than that. I'm sick of that.

I was part of a generation that changed the world, and it was taken over by posers.

There's nothing wrong with technology. It's when technology is the story and not the artist, that's the problem.

I'm very disappointed in my country right now, because I think we've kind of lost our moral compass.

We've turned into a whining society.

We need to get back to a level of social responsibility that we haven't seen for a long time.

I'm just an artist. I can only do so much. I can only say so much.

I think when I listen to old records, it puts me back in the atmosphere of what it felt like to make the record and who was there and what the room looked like. It's more a sensory memory.

I mean there's certainly a lot of progressive rock and metal that exists at the underground level, which has its own vitality, as it should. But it seems to have lost its ability to really charge up the hill.