“When someone tells you something big, it's like you're taking money from them, and there's no way it will ever go back to being the way it was. You have to take responsibility for listening.”

“You want people to take it seriously, but most people are still going to act like it's just some dumb thing you're doing and ask you about it in the way people do when they don't think you're ever going to finish what you started.”

“There's all sorts of ways to live, Chip. Some of them you give a lot. Some of them you take a lot. Art, jazz, it was a kind of taking. You take from the audience, you take from yourself.”

“You want to do something about it - take action, scream at them, tell them they're idiots - but you can't. Being on the fringe is the most disempowering feeling. You get so used to the world being a certain way, there seems to be no escape from it.”

“There's magic in that. It's in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”

“If everybody else your age is doing something very different than what you're doing, there's always going to be someone saying to you you might not succeed with it, you might not make any money with that... there's always going to be some type of obstacle in the way. All of those things will go away if you really focus on what makes you happy.”