I love obsessive fandom because I'm an obsessive fan who flips out over music.

A lot of bands break through with their third record: the White Stripes, the Clash, the Replacements.

Just being a normal person and having a social life involves a lot of dishonesty for me.

I think I'm gradually becoming a more politically aware person.

I like going to bed early and getting up early, but that doesn't happen on tour.

I was pretty much into punk rock and that's all I cared about. I was into Green Day and the Ramones. I wanted to get a guitar so I could play punk songs because this kid taught me power chords at summer camp.

I write all the time and I try to think of ideas all the time.

We need a lot more visibility of queer people in public life. People gotta get used to it.

I heard the Velvet Underground and that changed things when I was like, 15.

I could write a joke song really easily, but I think something that might be true for my generation is that there's a certain irony or detachedness expected of us, even though we really feel sincere. So the only way to sincerity is through a joke.

It's always about staying competitive with myself... Popularity is something that may happen from time to time, and I don't trust it and I don't think it means too much. I'm going for greatness.

Jews like to write and sing. In America, a lot of us have been eager to show that we're part of American culture. But it all goes back to King David writing Psalms.

I was rather obsessed with angels.

I don't really worship the album 'Transformer.' It's not the best thing that Lou Reed has done.

You have to make a character of yourself if you're going to be known to strangers.

I write good songs out of fear... fear of failure. Because if they're not good enough, you feel yourself starting to fall.

The Velvet Underground is probably the best band that's ever existed, assuredly the best American one.

I get stage fright really bad sometimes, so touring has been hard on me in a lot of ways. But despite that, I love performing.

I first got into music when I heard punk, and it was saying maybe it's OK if you don't live up to the expectations various authorities have for you.

God is close to the brokenhearted, and God lifts up the lonely. That was a message that was explicitly quoted to me and was part of my upbringing: Brokenhearted people and poor people and people who are in trouble should be your focus, and you should be on their team.

Not only am I a shy person, I take a little while to say what I mean, especially in a social situation, and usually those move too fast for me to say anything at all.

I always maintain that artists do not have any responsibility to do anything except cause no harm and do whatever we want to do as artists.

I don't like the notion that artists have a responsibility to be political.

I'm trying to be an activist, and I think of that as separate from my work as an artist. But it isn't.

I just don't care that much about the band name. I'm not so precious about it. The Harpoons were different people, but The Boy-Friends were and are the same people as The Visions. I changed it to The Visions when we made 'Transangelic Exodus' because I guess we didn't feel so friendly and boyish anymore.

I see a skill developing of writing about not just feelings that I'm feeling, but things that I deeply care about as well.

My focus is matters of the heart and matters of the spirit, emotion and passion and stuff like that. But I think I've been getting better at being more specific about what it is I care about. Such as the welfare of refugees and solidarity between threatened populations.

We take a lot of inspiration from punk rock and early rock 'n' roll from the '50s and early '60s.

I feel like one thing that messed me up was living in a homophobic and transphobic society, and just being the object of mockery and disgust in your average sitcom or movie or person at school.

I feel like my consignment and fear from people pushed me to become a performer.

One of my goals in making music is to make the world seem bigger, and life seem larger.

Sometimes there's a day where I don't feel good being out in the world, and I feel unsafe in the world in general. And an anxiety about just showing up in the world. It's kind of irrational, but people do say things to me out in the street about how I'm dressed.

Far from being a showbiz gimmick, for me dressing as I please has signalled the end of a lifelong performance of straightforward masculinity.

In terms of keeping kosher, I've basically just been vegetarian. I want to be fully vegetarian anyway, though sometimes my mom makes chicken soup and I have to eat it. I just love it.

I am frustrated at misconceptions of me, and being cast in a role.

I think of myself as someone who's trying to be a great songwriter and a great performer. And I mean really great.

I grew up attending a Conservative day school, Solomon Schechter, until I was about 14, and going to a Reconstructionist synagogue.

As children my grandparents were refugees. Eventually they got to the U.S. - in 1950 or something. They grew up as refugees. Their earliest memories are of living in a home with their family. It's in my blood, I guess, to have a fear about encouraging fascism.

I don't really believe in trying to erase every Woody Allen movie from history. For one thing, that's kind of unfair to all the people who worked on those movies or albums or whatever it is. What did they do wrong to have their work erased from culture?

Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.

What does it mean to love someone with all your heart? It means to love with all your emotional feelings and with all your devotion. Surely when you love your wife with all your heart, you cannot demean her, criticize her, find fault with her, or abuse her by words, sullen behavior, or actions.

When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.

One who is kind is sympathetic and gentle with others. He is considerate of others' feelings and courteous in his behavior. He has a helpful nature. Kindness pardons others' weaknesses and faults. Kindness is extended to all - to the aged and the young, to animals, to those low of station as well as the high.

God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble, or we can be compelled to be humble.

The fellowship of true friends who can hear you out, share your joys, help carry your burdens, and correctly counsel you is priceless.

You cannot do wrong and feel right. It is impossible!

We are eternal beings. We lived as intelligent spirits before this mortal life. We are now living part of eternity. Our mortal birth was not the beginning; death, which faces all of us, is not the end.

The proud do not change to improve, but defend their position by rationalizing. Repentance means change, and it takes a humble person to change.

The great test of life is obedience to God.

With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings.