Bruce Springsteen

Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.

Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you're trying to say on stage. Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.

The only thing I can say about having this type of success is that you can get yourself in trouble because basically the world is set open for you. People will say yes to anything you ask, so it's basically down to you and what you want or need.

You can't have a United States if you are telling some folks that they can't get on the train. There is a cracking point where a society collapses.

It's a sad man my friend who's livin' in his own skin and can't stand the company.

Plus, you know, when I was young, there was a lot of respect for clowning in rock music - look at Little Richard. It was a part of the whole thing, and I always also believed that it released the audience.

I think politics come out of psychology.

There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.

And whether you're drawn to gospel music or church music or honky-tonk music, it informs your character and it informs your talent.

I think that is what film and art and music do they can work as a map of sorts for your feelings.

I can sing very comfortably from my vantage point because a lot of the music was about a loss of innocence, there's innocence contained in you but there's also innocence in the process of being lost.

Some of the greatest blues music is some of the darkest music you've ever heard.

Adult life is dealing with an enormous amount of questions that don't have answers. So I let the mystery settle into my music. I don't deny anything, I don't advocate anything, I just live with it.

Certainly tolerance and acceptance were at the forefront of my music.

But then I go through long periods where I don't listen to things, usually when I'm working. In between the records and in between the writing I suck up books and music and movies and anything I can find.

I do a lot of curiosity buying I buy it if I like the album cover, I buy it if I like the name of the band, anything that sparks my imagination.

I do a lot of curiosity buying I buy it if I like the album cover, I buy it if I like the name of the band, anything that sparks my imagination. I still like to go to record stores, I like to just wander around and I'll buy whatever catches my attention.

The audiences are there as a result of my history with the band but also as a result of my being able to reach people with a tune.

I always wanted my music to influence the life you were living emotionally - with your family, your lover, your wife, and, at a certain point, with your children.

Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed.