Tori Amos

“When the mothers start to shatter, then everything just comes undone.”

“I think everyone understands grief, the journey it takes us on, whether it's the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a disappointment. Some people don't deal with it, the power of it. Some do. Some feel the weight of it and it informs their choices. I've had to open up to grief in different contexts.”

“Give me life, give me pain, give me myself again.”

“People assume that all artists make for terrible business people, but I'm in complete charge of my own career.”

“There are enough scary rock & roll mothers in the world.”

“My husband doesn't know what my songs are about - even when they're about him. He's very British in that way. He doesn't ask, and he doesn't want to be told.”

“It's fun to write your set list 20 minutes before and keep the crew very much on their toes.”

“I'm not very social when I'm off the promo trail, because I step into wife and mother mode. It's very reclusive.”

“For a song cycle to work, you have to feel these things when you hear them and you either have an emotional reaction to it or you don't. The plotline is something that gets woven together in the back-story.”

“When you don't have people in your life pushing you, can you push yourself?”

“Cornwall is one of the most beautiful places, with great people - there's not a great downside to it.”

“Things go wrong all the time; you can't be precious about it.”

“There is an energy that you carry when you're nurturing another life where you're protecting first - and once you know that cub is out of the way of the hunter's gun, you can be a little more daring.”

“Life is fleeting. It is to be enjoyed.”

“For the most part, pianos are female to me. Sometimes they're dykes, and they're always good fun.”

“When we get in a routine we can become zombie-like and shut down.”

“Everybody told me this 'girl on the piano' thing was never going to work.”

“A key to keeping your husband is getting him to miss you. That keeps a marriage fresh.”

“You know that saying, bad things don't happen to good people? That's a lie.”

“If you are a nurturing mother, and a good one, you can go to play groups, sit on the floor and play all the games, and have tea with the other mothers, but wouldn't you like to think that's not all there is? That you haven't hung up your high heels without knowing how to walk in them?”