Sampling has definitely introduced the music to younger generations - helped the music evolve and kept it relevant.

I am a big gospel guy myself and I listen to a lot to gospel music. It inspires me. It encourages me. It uplifts me.

We tried to make music that had a very diverse collection of genres - jazz, pop, Latin, even the blues. We tried to have a gumbo soup of expressions. We wanted to create music that would have people dive into a pool of artistic beauty and feel good. And I think we have been really blessed.

Music is a very strong force when it comes to making a difference, as well as entertaining, soothing, and encouraging.

I'm a strong believer in God. Always have been. I've always believed that he directed my path from the time I was a kid. He has always been my source of strength.

Life can be very challenging. But I've always believed that God is always in control, even when you are going through challenges. Nothing catches him by surprise. It's all part of his plan. I rely on that even during the toughest of times.

Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees.

A sculptor is a person who is interested in the shape of things, a poet in words, a musician by sounds.

I think it's the pain and suffering that drive you to become an artist. The art itself should be the pain, sort of exorcising every demon and making you feel like you're a person that matters.

A picture book is a small door to the enormous world of the visual arts, and they're often the first art a young person sees.

It is one of the most effective attitudes of the neurotic to measure thumbs down, so to speak, a real person by an ideal, since in doing so he can depreciate him as much as he wishes.

Everybody is a political person, whether you say something or you are silent. A political attitude is not whether you go to parliament; it's how you deal with your life, with your surroundings.