My knees are ticklish.

Some of the songs are so crazy, the words are so crazy... it's hard to believe I was so crazy.

I'm totally committed to the cause of individuality. That's the only thing I stand by: independence.

I don't buy a lot when I travel, but when I do, I like to send gifts from wherever I am. It's fun to find the local post office.

As long as there are religions, there are going to be people who are hiding their rottenness behind the veil of religion.

Puerto Ricans who find they can no longer afford to keep their pets often choose to drop their dogs, sometimes even whole litters of puppies, at a beach - sometimes under cover of night, in secret - rather than surrender the animal to a city or state-run shelter where the animals will face grim conditions and almost certain death by euthanasia.

David Ortiz is a genius. He's incredible to watch. Over and over, he hits home runs that are simply transcendent.

I never really expected to win the hearts of the masses.

I have been a bridesmaid. Fortunately, the outfits were pretty tame. They were cream and black, but I still wouldn't wear them out in public, though.

My dad claims that he was able to trace us back to the West Virginia Hatfields. When I look at the old pictures, the patriarchs have kind of a physical likeness to some of the men on the father's side of my family. I want it to be true.

I've always been a loner, and I've spent most of my life as a single person.

I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl - long before I was a musician and a songwriter.

My whole life was writing, recording and touring over and over again. At some point I realised I wasn't enjoying myself any more.

Although I'm a huge fan of Ben Kweller, I don't think I'd cover one of his songs, simply because there's just so much of my own stuff I wanna do.

I find myself a fascinating subject.

I like visiting LA, but I wouldn't want to live there.

I tend to fall for the archetypal, talented, charismatic rock boy.

I'd just like to inspire people to be themselves and do what they want and not conform to the rigid guidelines of the music or entertainment business.

I'm a neo-Luddite.

I'm not a very good advice-giver.

It makes me feel good to have some comforting effect on someone that needs comfort.

My first guitar was a Gibson Challenger.

People make such a big deal about how people in bands look, especially if you're a girl.

People need meanings to everything. People want you to intellectualize every choice you make.

The first kiss between two people is something really good in life.

The way I see it, all the popular singers are strippers.

To make big steps, you've got to take action yourself and not listen to other people.

To me, success was not having to have a boss and not having a day job. I've been living my own version of success since the early '90s when I first got signed. I haven't had a job since then.

When I did have a little bit of commercial success, it really didn't suit my temperament at all. I'm a terrible public person.

You can learn so much just by doing, not by listening to anybody.

I still have all the faith and love for my music and yet I'm still playing places for kids.

I don't have anything to prove anymore. I don't have a record deal, no one has any expectations, I'm in a position of freedom. I don't need anyone's approval.

I never felt happy with the idea that part of what I do is to be an object to be looked at. I thought of my public persona as an entity separate to myself.

I still have a lot of those depressive thoughts, but now I have the foresight to tell myself, 'Don't think like that,' and things seem better.

Writing helps me process things that are happening to me.

I'm a damaged person, but I have hope and a will to not give up.

I've been embarrassing myself publicly for over 20 years. Why should I stop now?

I am not dead inside. I still care about right and wrong.

You find yourself approaching middle age, playing another scuzzy rock club.

I love 'Crazy Horse,' and Neil Young is one of my favorite guitar players.

I finished 'Beautiful Creature,' and I felt somewhat unfulfilled. I felt like this other side of me needed to be released. Some of the songs I left off the album weren't intense enough to be what I wanted. They weren't hard enough.

I have many moods, and there is no objective reality. And I kind of live by that.

All I'm trying to do is to keep going and keep evolving.

I love playing in front of people. I feel powerful, 'cause I don't have to really say anything - I'm just singing.

I like people wanting to know about me.

When I start writing, I'll have a vague concept or I'll just have a title, and the song just goes on its own direction. Usually it goes in many directions within each song. They get really convoluted sometimes.

My songs are about not knowing who to be and not knowing how to act.

For a long time, music was hope. Now it seems music isn't enough to make me happy. It used to be that's all I needed to keep going. Now I need other things to take up the other parts of my life.

Human relations, I mess them up, and they let me down.

I want to paint. That is probably going to sound so pretentious coming from someone who's been a musician.