Tori Amos

There's a side to this industry that nurtures divas who can't write. It's a big business.

My parents think I'm better under pressure.

There is a time and a place for things. Sometimes one needs to put a filter on oneself. That can be a good thing.

I would love to compose something for dance before I kick the bucket, and I'm not closed-minded about the dance, or the dance company. I would really just love to collaborate on that.

There are ways to stimulate being prolific, and part of that is making pilgrimages, and being open to listening, changing up the routine.

Take a different route to the coffee shop to see what you can see and hear. When we get in a routine, we can become zombie-like and shut down. It's about discipline. You have to push yourself.

Romance is important to me, and to have a romance with your husband takes a bit of doing. The key is to make sure your partner misses you. That means you have to take yourself away.

I don't feel I'm as good a mum as my mum was.

I had a very strict upbringing with my dad and was very close to my mum, who was extremely loving.

Being stylish is about enjoying your life and expressing yourself and your inner light.

To me glamour isn't about being sparkly.

Even if everything else is downplayed, I'll wear good shoes.

I produce the records. I don't hand over control to some really expensive producer who then talks to the record company and then tries to bend me to their will - for commercial purposes.

You have to be clear what your message is and what you're doing. I mean, Miley Cyrus is an amazing talent, and sometimes you kind of just want to say, 'We know you're not Hannah Montana anymore. We know that, my dear. My darling. Now, go be great.'

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

I'm not like a poker player. I'm not into bluff. My way is to look someone in the eye and tell them the way I'm intending to go. My cards are always on the table.

I'm a classic emerald green Sixties Jaguar that nobody can own, but my husband is allowed to drive.

I don't choose to analyze what I have done and I think that is the right choice, because then I won't be spending my time creating.

It's been a thrilling journey - I have had to really learn that an orchestra is an entity - it's a creature. I have been calling it the dragon and the conductor is the dragon tamer. And you just have to... ride and don't let go and you will be fine.

My favorite saying is, 'If it's too loud, turn it up.'

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

I would love to compose something for dance before I kick the bucket, and I'm not closed-minded about the dance, or the dance company.

When you're in your 20s, there's maybe a little room for you to not be at the top of your artistic game, if you look good on a magazine cover. When you're not on the cover of the magazines anymore, then you realize that the work has to be great.

I can see how the young girls really get hurt when their moms are critical, or vice versa when they're overly critical of their moms. It can be so painful.

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

Some people say, I'd give anything to be 30 again. Well, I really wouldn't. I didn't enjoy being 30.

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.

Our world is a huge mess right now, and not big enough for masses of intolerant people.

As the sun sets, we've all had those nights where you question your choices and where your life is going.

I wanted to do something creatively, having been a beached whale for many months and nursing my daughter.

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

Music is always a reflection of what's going on in the hearts and minds of the culture.

I get tired of wearing the same thing all the time too.

I'm a mother, and that's really important. Today, the mother and the musician can sit next to each other. Even when the musician is out there in full swing, the mother doesn't get switched off.

I've worked with many powerful men in the music industry.

My brother was a fantastic cheerleader for my development as a musician. He was almost 10 years older than me and would really push me to develop as a songwriter.

If you think a child is going to be your accessory... it's not like a micro pig. It's not about putting them in front of the television. You need to read to them at night.

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

The key things are about power and about growing up and realizing as you grow up that there are consequences for the choices you make, especially when you get seduced by power.

Sometimes it seems like we're closer to our manicurists than we are our own souls. We have to find ways to get in touch with that and to listen to it and to hear it.

I'm very at home working with mythology.

When one doesn't want the limelight, but is also creative in developing whatever it is they are, then you can have two equal people that aren't competing against each other. I think when you are in the same field, it's difficult to leave it outside and not compete. Then when the doors are closed; that pervades everything.

Not everybody wants to have the same career. I think what's difficult is when you have two people that do something very, very similar and they both, say, want the limelight. That's very tricky.

I started playing the piano when I was about two and got a scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore when I was five. But I left when I was 11.

My ears are huge. If there's ever a problem with a plane I'm on, they could just put me on the wing and I'll land the sucker.

I have built my world through Native American mythology.

A lot of songs are derivative of each other. Sometimes you need to take a departure from what you do to something that's slightly different in order to get inspiration.

I like involved projects. I'm driven by the idea of characters and the song-cycle form is similar to a musical.

I'm a hard worker. I get my hands dirty.

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