Quotes from Eddie Vedder

It's an art to live with pain... mix the light into gray.

I don't know how people do it these days - paparazzi and that kind of thing. That's something I can't even imagine.

It's fun singing with other people who are really good singers. There's something kind of poignant about braiding a couple vocals.

Whatever your walk of life is, I think you have to be real about it.

Any conversations we hear about 'So who are Pearl Jam marketing to?' are despicable.

When I had a child, everyone was telling me that I was going to see the world through her eyes, and everything was going to get this nice gloss to it. I kept waiting for that to happen, and thought there was a real problem with me that it wasn't.

I think celebrities suck.

I've never been a calm, midrange type person.

I suppose one of the challenges of writing the word-side of music these days is trying to decipher and communicate how this planet is very overwhelming at this point. The difficulties we face are overwhelming. It's very difficult to give yourself the time to breathe and appreciate the joy and beauty that might be just right around us.

This is still a young man's game, so we have to stay young. Music allows you to do that, especially rock'n'roll.

Are you woman enough to be my man?

Music's at its best when it has a purpose.

Worship the music, not the musicians.

I would do anything to be around music. You don't even have to pay me.

If he can't sleep, how will he ever dream?

Playing music for as long as I had been playing music and then getting a shot at making a record and at having an audience and stuff, it's just like an untamed force... a different kind of energy.

I believe in the power of music. To me, it isn't just a fad. This is a positive thing.

I would thank God, but I don't believe in it.

I am not a good enough writer to have an agenda or come up with a message and try to put it into a song. It's more like you write what comes to you... You try to reflect the mood of the songs.

If it's a good cause, I'll play just about anything.

Do you force your kids to pay attention to what's going on, or do you let them live their lives outside of it? My hope is that my child is a strong activist. That would make me most proud.

Caffeine. The gateway drug.

I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me.

After the Ramones, it was more about new wave for me than punk.