Quotes about Personal Growth

Growing up, I always saw the hypocrisy of the Catholic church. The history speaks for itself, and I grew incredibly frustrated and angry. I essentially just put that into my words.

When you grow up in the music industry, trying to be Britney Spears because that's what sells records and then you realize, 'All I have to do is be myself? I should have thought of that a long time ago,' it feels good to have success come from what's actually inside of you.

I haven't seen 'Himalay Putra' since the time it released. I can't say there is any special reason for not seeing it. But I don't watch my older films. It doesn't give me a kick.

I knew I'd just done one of the most amazing things that I will ever get a chance to do. Just to be part of a musical that's not your background and to pull it off and to think that we've done something that's really special.

I left school with basically nothing, I was a special needs kid. I did feel as though my school had let me down.

Asbury Park's a special place for me. It's where I really began playing.

At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.

There's nothing to be gained, and much to be lost, in trying to bend every child to match a one-size-fits-all notion of what it means to be a boy or girl of a specific age. Better to set a few parameters and then go with the flow. Call it 'jazz parenting.'

For me specifically, I think college benefited me. Just getting me out of doing, getting me out of what I was doing before. I was just doing the same thing, you know, every day, same schedule, just practicing, training, things like that.

'Ray of Light' changed my life. The whole album, but that song specifically, was just so life-changing and incredible for me.

One of the reasons I'm an actor is because I was no physical specimen as a child. I wasn't athletic and didn't have any prowess in that regard. Growing up in Kentucky, most little boys were trying to get into sports, and it was very competitive, so that was not to be. But I did want to do something.

I've gone the full spectrum - from gospel to blues to jazz to soul to pop - and the public has accepted what I've done through it all. I think it means I've been doing something right at the right time.

'Dept. of Speculation' contains numerous enviable lines.

I did my first speech when I was 17, well, my first formal speech. So I've had time to deal with it, and to adjust to it, but I can't say I'm like gung-ho on public speaking or interviews for that matter.

I can't believe it. I'm speechless. It is amazing to see where I've come from the last two years.

I think it would be great if everybody could be out. But it's such a personal choice. People have to do it at their own speed. I respect that.

It took me a while to learn how to spell my own name.

The last loan spell, at Reading, was the one I enjoyed most. The manager, Jose Gomes, put a lot of faith in me and helped me develop.

Going on all those loan spells helped me massively. They turned me into a man quicker than I should have.

When I first met my wife, I really just settled down quite a bit and I started living a much cleaner lifestyle. I was able to concentrate on things that I neglected in the past a little more and I was spending a lot more time at home than I normally would.

I'm not a fugitive anymore. Never will be in the future. After spending five years in jail, you learn your lesson. I never want to return there.

The years I spent paying my dues are in the background, and so are my concerns about whether my performance is good or bad.

In May 2006, I had our son, Calder. I spent the next couple of years learning how to be a mom.

The first 20 years had such a profound effect on me, I spent the next 20 dealing with them.