"If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance"

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible"

"Great effort from great motives is the best definition of a happy life"

"Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day"

"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible"

"I said when I came into office that I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a good democrat"

"There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would be able to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have to compose by the seat of your pants"

"It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice"

"I just had lunch with Slash two days ago. He loves Axl. He holds no grudges towards him. Twenty years of great music wasn't created because of some stupid grudge. That's a shame"

"The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you"