It is better to do one's own duty however defective it may be than to follow the duty of another however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it never sins.

Pop stardom is not very compelling. I'm much more interested in a relationship between performer and audience that is of equals. I came up through folk music and there's no pomp and circumstance to the performance. There's no like 'I'll be the rock star you be the adulating fan.'

Music never dies. Do we really need another Madonna tour? Does she have to compete with women performers 25 years her junior?

I think what made it difficult for people to get and still makes it difficult for people to get is the theatrical nature of the work and the fact that my music doesn't exist without the performance-art element.

Why do musicians give so much time to charitable causes? The most humanitarian cause that we can give our time to is the creation and performance of music itself.

No matter how many times people say it - 'Oh I'm just writing this for myself' 'Oh I'm just doing this for myself' - nobody's doing it for themselves! You're doing it for an audience. So whether I'm performing or writing a book or playing music it's definitely to be put out there and to be received in some way definitely.

Music is a performance and needs the audience.

Music in performance is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.

If your movies don't perform they just stop calling you.

I think movies are a director's medium in the end. Theater is the actor's medium. Theater is fast and enjoyable and truly rewarding. I believe in great live performance.

I've done performances in movies that I was immensely proud of and the movies didn't take off like a rocket at Cape Canaveral it didn't take off.

I love movies with spectacle but spectacle can be a performance it doesn't have to be a creature.

Some quality performances and movies have a chance to be rewarded but it's not like it's a bible.

There's this index that tallies up how much your movies have made and if they haven't grossed a certain amount then you're not bankable. I know I'm not Will Smith but you know my ranking's pretty low. The only studio picture I've done is 'Zodiac ' and that didn't perform that well.

When we shoot 24 there are so many things I have to worry about from the script to technical things to my performance that I don't have a second to be bored or take anything for granted. We produce 24 hours of film a season which is like making 12 movies.

I like fantasy. I like horror science fiction because I can get avant-garde with those performances in those movies.

What I like to do is just make good music good movies hopefully perform a good show full of energy and just have some fun.

I just knew that was what I wanted to do. I was going to perform as a singer I was going to perform as a dancer and I was you know going to do movies and be an actress. I was going to do it or die trying. That's what my life was.

Yesterday morning I amused myself with an exercise of a talent I once possessed but have so neglected that my performance might almost be called an experiment. I cut out a dress for one of the women.

I turned on VH1 this morning just to get a little warm-up before I came over here and I think it's just terrific. There's so much great stuff: diverse and wonderful music good performances great looking girls great videos the whole thing.

When you hire that first person then you're a boss. You've got performance reviews. You've got complaints about not making enough money. You've got people who are just going to sell your story to the tabloids.

I always was drawn to the performing arts. I started dancing when I was two. I sang loved to act and loved going to visit my mom on-set. But she wanted me to have a normal childhood so I wasn't really allowed to pursue acting till I got older.

I remember watching the Grammys and looking at the performances and crying to my mom saying how much I wanted to be there.

Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.