Tracy Chapman

“I think religion played a huge part in Bush's re-election.”

“What does the future look like if the heads of society ask our young people to risk their lives for questionable causes? I think it looks rather bleak.”

“Men are able to sustain a career into their 50s and 60s and still present themselves as sex symbols. With women, on the other hand, people say, 'Why doesn't she retire?'”

“I think it's important, if you are an artist, to use your music to stand up for what you believe in.”

“I think many people would say that writers like Stephen King have hypergraphia.”

“I meet people in my daily life, people who seem to experience some change and some growth on a personal level, and that gives me hope.”

“At this point in my life I'd like to live as if only love mattered.”

“I think of the audience the way I would think of another person: You meet someone, then you take it from there; you see what's interesting to both of you.”

“That's what everyone should do with their lives: stand up for what they believe in or try to do some good in the world. I don't think artists have a greater responsibility than anyone else.”

“People's real hopes and dreams can be distorted and misdirected and packaged until you're not sure what you really want or what you even really need.”

“There are good reasons for being in jail - for protesting.”

“I won't get into it any more than to say that there are parts of me in all the songs that I write.”

“We have more media than ever and more technology in our lives. It's supposed to help us communicate, but it has the opposite effect of isolating us.”

“If you are living a life that feels right to you, if you're willing to take creative chances or a creative path that feels like it's mostly in keeping with your sensibilities, you know, aesthetic and artistic, then that's what matters.”

“I decided to do whatever I could to make sure the business side of music didn't intrude on the creative part.”

“I often write either really early in the morning, or really late at night.”

“The way popular music is categorized and formatted cuts down on everyone's options. And although people don't talk about it, there are a lot of issues of race determining musical categories of what's rock, R&B, or even folk. It ends up restricting creativity.”

“We all must live our lives always feeling, always thinking the moment has arrived.”

“I don't know - I'm not sure about anything as far as religion and spirituality go.”

“I learn all these things about the record talking about it after it's finished.”