I don’t believe in nirvana. If nirvana was handed to us on a silver platter, this would be the first day of our struggle to keep it.

A lot of artists say, I’m not political. People are afraid of this word.

Part of being an artist is being willing to be shocked, being willing to be surprised, being willing to be hurt.

My creativity and my political work are linked. I don’t do this work out of guilt or out of responsibility.

When we make mistakes, say, I’m blessed that I have an opportunity to learn from this.

When an audience comes to one of my concerts, I hope they’ll see themselves, somewhere, in one of the songs.

To be always in a state of wonder is a kind of sensitivity that can sometimes be an extraordinary blessing and sometimes a real pain.

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?

If I didn’t think and feel the way I think and feel, I couldn’t sing the way I sing. And I like singing the way I sing.

I’m not allowing my perspective to be dictated by the dominant culture.

You can’t just leave out one part; the bread won’t rise if the yeast isn’t there.

Leaping away from my mistakes has propelled me forward. It has great force behind it. It makes for great storytelling.

It’s been important to me to be a good activist, a good thinker, a good musician, a good singer, and a good entertainer. You can’t do it all, but I have walked those delicate lines as best I know how.

The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

We who are interested in relative truth have to keep digging for it and not let ourselves be sucked under.

Once women are not excluded, I don’t think any of us will give a damn what pronouns are used. That wasn’t the point.

My parents encouraged thought. You’ll get through life better if you learn how to think.

You just keep feeding hogwash to people, and pretty soon they’ll eat it.

My parents had been involved in the labor movement; if we’d grown up in the city, we would have been red-diaper babies.

People love to hear the mistakes you’ve made.

I don’t believe in nirvana. If nirvana was handed to us on a silver platter, this would be the first day of our struggle to keep it.

White middle- and upper-class men have a longer journey to go than many people.

When the students were killed at Kent State, the cast voted to do a demonstration from the stage, and I abstained.

To my great surprise and pleasure, I have had dinner with most of the people living with whom I would like to have dinner.

It is essential that men start being interested in and excited by how women think.

The women’s movement completely changed attitudes all over the world in ways we’ll never be able to count.

I like this life. I like it when it’s hard, and I like it better when it’s not, but I know you don’t get the sweet part without the bitter.

To come to a concert and hear a lot of songs from a female perspective should not make men say, ‘Oh well, that’s for women’.

Language is like songs, like food, like dance-it is the expression of what we think.

Part of keeping space open is not to try to choose a form – to spend more time thinking about content, and let form take care of itself.

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

Music can be used against us as much as it can be used for us. Muzak can put a whole nation to sleep, whereas a lullaby is intended to put a child to sleep in a sweet way.