We didn't get to see a lot of movies in my house growing up, so the first time I got to go to the movies - I think it was 'E.T.' - I was like, 'Oh my God, somebody else gets my imagination!'

I can safely say that I had an incredibly difficult and trying past growing up and trying to be an artist and standing up as who I am in this world.

It's a struggle for anybody to take their paradigms and set of beliefs and understandings and completely flip the script.

My favorite thing about working with Lady Gaga is really just the sheer level of creativity she brings to the table. And she's really one of the most intelligent people I've ever known. Her intelligence is equaled by her heart.

I firmly believe that all human beings have access to extraordinary energies and powers. Judging from accounts of mystical experience, heightened creativity, or exceptional performance by athletes and artists, we harbor a greater life than we know.

I love roles that don't really have a template or a paradigm and force me to create using my own imagination... that really, really turns me on.

Everything is creative. It's all relative to me. No matter what, you've gotta use your imagination, use your senses.

An intellectual's weapon is writing, but sometimes people react as if it were a firearm. A writer can do a lot to change the situation, but as far as I know, no dictatorship has fallen because of a sonnet.