What influenced me was Tori Amos, who was unapologetic about expressing anger through music, and Sinead O'Connor. Those two in particular were really moving for me, and very inspiring, before I wrote 'Jagged Little Pill.'

It will be a marvellous thing - the true personality of man - when we see it. It will grow naturally and simply, flower-like, or as a tree grows. It will not be at discord. It will never argue or dispute. It will not prove things. It will know everything. And yet it will not busy itself about knowledge. It will have wisdom. Its value will not be measured by material things. It will have nothing. And yet it will have everything, and whatever one takes from it, it will still have, so rich will it be. It will not be always meddling with others, or asking them to be like itself. It will love them because they will be different. And yet, while it will not meddle with others, it will help all, as a beautiful thing helps us by being what it is. The personality of man will be very wonderful. It will be as wonderful as the personality of a child.In its development it will be assisted by Christianity, if men desire that; but if men do not desire that, it will develop none the less surely. For it will not worry itself about the past, nor care whether things happened or did not happen. Nor will it admit any laws but its own laws; nor any authority but its own authority. Yet it will love those who sought to intensify it, and speak often of them. And of these Christ was one.Know Thyself was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, Be Thyself shall be written. And the message of Christ to man was simply Be Thyself. That is the secret of Christ.

Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Und

I believe that every person is born with talent.

Maya Angelou

Maybe I was naïve to think that silence was implicit complacence, instead of a festering question. Maybe I was silly to believe that friends owed each other anything.

Jodi Picoult

A little of everything and nothing thoroughly, after the French fashion.

Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.

I believe that true beauty of chess is more than enough to satisfy all possible demands.

Alexander Alekhine

One of the best animated films I've seen come out of Disney was the Tarzan movie. I wasn't crazy about the story or the design on Tarzan's face, but the traditional animation was spectacular.

Ralph Bakshi

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

Winston Churchill

Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most powerful molder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage?

Emma Goldman

Love prefers twilight to daylight.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Whether you think a film will affect society or it's plain entertainment, it's all excellent, it's all noble.

Joaquin Phoenix

When I listen to music, I don't want to hear about flowers. I like death and destruction.

Jonathan Davis

Perseverance, dear my lord, Keeps honor bright

William Shakespeare