There's no better sight than when I look out from the speaker's rostrum and see a group of Republicans and Democrats who sit in a couple of rows together, laughing together. It is just - it sounds a little silly - but it's just an amazing, great sight.
When anything is blocking my head or there's worry in my life, I just go sit on Mars or something and look back here at Earth. All you can see is this tiny speck. You don't see the fear. You don't see the pain. You don't see thought. It's just one solid speck. Then nothing really matters. It just doesn't.
When you sit quietly and look inside, things that seem so difficult on the outside become a lot easier to digest. Concerns that might've caused a lot of anxiety just come and go.
No president stays in town. They all decamp. They all leave. They go back somewhere. But Obama is gonna stay there, and there's one reason why. He's not going to sit quietly by... Let's say there's a Republican elected president. He's not gonna sit quietly by and let whatever he thinks he's accomplished be unraveled. He's gonna be speaking up often about what he disagrees with, and he knows he's gonna have the media in his back pocket.
I don't see things the way my parents do. They can look at a tree and see something amazing, whereas I just see a tree. That's not to say I don't appreciate its beauty. When I watch the sea in somewhere like Sardinia, I see the beauty in that.
What I really like to do is to sit quietly and write. All that other stuff is a problem. Publication to reception to negotiation to... everything, it's a problem. And I like to sit outside for long periods of time and just be in the tranquility of nature. That's what I like.
With Jackson there was quiet solitude. Just to sit and look at the landscape. An inner quietness. After dinner, to sit on the back porch and look at the light. No need for talking. For any kind of communication.
It's just amazing to see that when you get over your own inner demons or jealousies you have, it's amazing to see what can come of it.
Did you ever sit quietly with your back straight, not moving, just only cherishing the beauty of silence?
It's just a lot of fun to be able to see your ideas come into fruition. And to see people translate the things that come out of my mind vocally. And to be able to produce vocals and give people my point of view musically. And to be able to sit in the crowd and see people sing the song that I wrote, it's an amazing feeling.
The most amazing thing is when you find yourself watching someone in the cafe or something doing something weird. It's amazing what people do, isn't it, when you just look at them, when you take the time to look.
I'll think about something else. I'll just sit quietly. If I could sit still. If I could sit still, maybe I could read. Oh, all the books are about people who love each other, truly and sweetly. What do they want to write about that for? Don't they know it isn't true? Don't they know it's a lie, it's a God-damned lie? What do they have to tell about that for, when they know how it hurts?
When I look at my streams on Spotify, and I just see it's hundreds of millions of streams, I think, 'Wow, that's amazing.' But you don't really get it. Once you see people in front of you singing along to your songs, it's real.
People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk.
When I was young, all I wanted and expected from life was to sit quietly in some corner doing my work without the public paying attention to me. And now see what has become of me.
In this twentieth century, to stop rushing around, to sit quietly on the grass, to switch off the world and come back to the earth, to allow the eye to see a willow, a bush, a cloud, a leaf, is an unforgettable experience.