Alanis Morissette

“I have a profound empathy for people who are in the public eye, whether they manifest it themselves or whether it happened by accident - it doesn't matter to me. I think there's a great misunderstanding of what it is to be famous.”

“I think it's child abuse to have someone in the public eye too young. Society basically values wealth and fame and power at the cost of well-being. In the case of a child, it's at the cost of someone's natural development. It's already hard enough to develop.”

“They're different kinds of challenges depending upon what phase of life I'm in.”

“At some point, I would like to write a book and other things, but I work best when there is some sort of deadline in my own mind, but not when fifty people or fifty million people are breathing down the back of my neck.”

“I'll be writing records until I'm dead, whether people like it or not!”

“I'm excited about there being more of a sisterhood these days. Back in the '90s there was a lot of hate - the women I looked up to as artists were dissing me! It's not so patriarchal these days - there's more love and a lot less hate!”

“But once I acclimated and really used fame for what it was offering me as a tool to serve my life purpose of inspiring and contributing, then it started to get fun again.”

“I'll keep evolving and put that into my songs.”

“I think some people think I'm a smarty-pants. Some people think I'm intense, some people think I'm super-esoteric and nuts.”

“I was taught from a young age that I had to serve, so that turned into me thinking I had to save the planet.”

“The more vulnerable and the more confused the song is, the equal and opposite effect is how I feel after having written it.”

“Breakups are a horrible thing for almost everybody I know. For someone who is a love addict, it's debilitating.”

“I was born in '74, so I missed out on all the great early '60s and early '70s.”

“Europe seems a little softer, but in America it's harsh. In L.A., where I live, it's all about perfectionism.”

“I wish people could achieve what they think would bring them happiness in order for them to realize that that's not really what happiness is.”

“I think some fans want everything to stay they same because they want to stay the same.”

“I need to be performing. I need to be acting. I need to be designing a condo and ripping down walls and buying new plates and looking at fashion magazines. There always has to be some movement in the artistic department for me to not get really, really low.”

“Infidelity is a deal breaker for me. I've broken up with people over it. You can't do monogamy 90 percent of the time.”

“Partnership is the way. Dictatorial win-lose is so old-school.”

“What I try to keep in mind is that there are going to be a lot of articles that are going to be misrepresentative of what I'm about as a person and as a writer.”