You can only really sing about what you know; at least, I can.

I wasn't the easiest guy to work with when I was younger.

I have a high tolerance for pain.

In 1997, I thought I'd never make another record.

My favorite record, growing up, was 'Songs of the Haunted House,' a Disney record that was just wackiness. It's still one of my favorites, actually.

Everybody has unhappiness.

I was in trouble with the law from when I was real young.

I'm not a human interest story, man. I'm just a musician trying to make some small records and be happy, be peaceful.

Usually I write on guitar.

Even when I'm making my own solo records, I'm collaborating with people. It keeps things interesting for me.

All the guys I know that play guitar are also secretly drummers and vice versa.

I enjoy working on whatever I'm working on.

I can't say what people use the experience of listening to songs for, but I would never tell somebody what it is supposed to mean. That defeats the purpose of making it. Hopefully, whoever connects with it connects with it in their own way, and it can mean whatever it is supposed to mean to them.

When I was in high school, I took French. I barely passed and didn't learn anything at all. There was a joke among me and my friends in the class that nothing sounded more ridiculous than a guy with a country accent speaking French.

I'm not really interested in video games.

Doing something that's physical but not necessarily mentally taxing - for me, it frees me up creatively.

No one would hang out with me if I didn't have music to make.

I don't really take time off between records; it's a compulsion for me.

In 2005, I worked as a scenic painter for a while when I was taking a break from music.

When I think of a hit, I think of Madonna.

I'm not much of a partyer.

It's satisfying and gratifying to make your own music, but I personally don't get the same enjoyment out of the music that I make as I do from somebody else's music that I like.

I used to throw a lot of stuff against the wall, just to see what ended up sticking; now I'm pretty much using everything that I create for a record.

When I'm listening to music for pleasure, I'm gonna listen to someone else's music.

I have to have animals. They really make life worth living, and my world actually revolves around them. They know exactly when it's time to get up, exactly when they're supposed to get their food, and they let you know. Mine are right there in my face, first thing every morning.

I was excited when the Afghan Whigs got back together.

When I was a kid, I got caught shoplifting by a store security guard in Ellensburg. The next time I saw that store guard was when I got thrown in jail again - this time for not paying court fees. The guy happened to be in jail, too, right next to me. That's what Eastern Washington is like - you never get too far away from anybody.

Nobody likes to believe that they need anybody's help in anything, and the smarter you are - and I'm not smart - or the tougher you are - and at times I thought I was pretty tough - the more trouble you have.

As far as I remember, I don't have any warrants out for my arrest anymore. I can travel without fear.

I hope I'm learning until I'm dead.

Most of the music I'm into wasn't popular when it was being made.

It's hard not to respect Kobe Bryant's game: He's one of the all-time greats.

True love - that is, deep, abiding love that is impervious to emotional whims or fancy - is a choice. It's a constant commitment to a person regardless of the present circumstances.

Life is a never-ending stream of problems that must be confronted, surmounted, and/or solved.

Death is important for a couple reasons. The first is that death creates scarcity in our life, which therefore gives our decisions meaning and value. From a practical point of view, it therefore makes sense that we keep our own deaths in mind when deciding how to use our time.

When most people set out to change their lives, they often focus on all the external stuff, like a new job or a new location or new friends or a new romantic prospects and on and on. The reality is that changing your life starts with changing the way you see everything in your life.

Like anything worth doing in life, happiness takes time and patience and consistency.

If someone is better than you at something, then it's likely because she has failed at it more than you have. If someone is worse than you, it's likely because he hasn't been through all of the painful learning experiences you have.

People want to start their own business or become financially independent. But you don't end up a successful entrepreneur unless you find a way to love the risk, the uncertainty, the repeated failures, and working insane hours on something you have no idea whether will be successful or not.

By itself, love is never enough to sustain a relationship.

Seeking approval and people pleasing forces you to alter your actions and speech to no longer reflect what you actually think or feel.

That first morning that I woke up self-employed, terror quickly consumed me. I found myself sitting with my laptop and realized, for the first time, that I was entirely responsible for all of my own decisions, as well as the consequences of those decisions.

Improvement at anything is based on thousands of tiny failures, and the magnitude of your success is based on how many times you've failed at something.

I think humility - which I think is a very good value to adopt - is basically an extension of understanding your own ignorance.

The fear of failure never goes away. In many ways, you could argue that success multiplies the opportunities for failure. It's just more of an argument for becoming more comfortable with it.

The American Dream is simple: it's the unwavering belief that anybody - you, me, your friends, your neighbors, grandma Verna - can become exceedingly successful, and all it takes is the right amount of work, ingenuity, and determination.

Many people get into a relationship as a way to compensate for something they lack or hate within themselves. This is a one-way ticket to a toxic relationship because it makes your love conditional - you will love your partner as long as they help you feel better about yourself.

People complain not because something sucks. People complain because they're looking for empathy and to feel connected with those around them. Unfortunately, complaining is maybe the least useful way to connect with other human beings.

How do I control my emotions? How do I stop getting angry so often, or how do I stop being sad? And I think there's a really important distinction to understand is that you can't completely control your emotions. What you control is your reaction to your own emotions. And a lot of people don't ever make that separation for what goes on with them.

Our moral philosophy determines our values - what we care about and what we don't care about - and our values determine our decisions, actions, and beliefs. Therefore, moral philosophy applies to everything in our lives.