Quotes About Authenticity

Once he became a series character, I made the conscious choice that he would never act like a series character, never wink at the reader, never pull his punches. Better for him, better for me.

We never wanted to be ironic; we didn't want to wink at the audience.

I never faked my emotions or my desire to be a winner.

People are always surprised to find this out, but the songs that we write, such as 'Winner of a Losing Game' and things like that, tend to be more country than the other stuff that we cut from outside writers.

On 'Love Island' you're trying to win the prize money and stay together; on 'The Bi Life,' the winner is the one that finds love.

This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers, good politics from bad, and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys.

Having watched 'X Factor' over the years, they just haven't got it right. The male winners haven't been believable. They look like puppets; they sound like puppets.

People were telling me it was refreshing I was real because previous 'X Factor' winners were too afraid to say anything. I decided to go against the grain. But I took it too far.

Everything is good when you're winning. But true colors come out when you lose.

People see me on the court only as a superhero, grunting and winning. They think you're a robot, and I'm not.

It's fool's gold if you are winning games and are not playing the right way.

I'm not a big fan of the thought that you can become a star by winning a contest. I'm sort of old-fashioned. I think people need to get out there and they need to work and they need to do their music because they love it. If they become successful, then great, and if they are not, whatever.

I wasn't a Superman guy - I didn't like the invincible superhero who always wins. Who can get behind someone like that?

If I want to pad the record, just fight pretenders, get a quick paycheck and keep moving on and racking up wins, that's not something I want to be known for.

Who you are vs. who you wish you were: Who wins?

And then, of course, there's a couple that claim to be, but I haven't done any DNA tests or anything.

I'm not that interested in labels or litmus tests.

Westerners know the difference between a talker and the real deal. If Rick Perry wasn't right to be governor of Texas, why should he be president?

I still think probably the only thing I'm suited for is being a boy from Texas.

One day, it just dawned on me that I'm from Texas, and that's what I am.

Texas is still resistant to Howard Johnsons, interstate highways and some forms of phoniness. It is the place least likely to become a replica of everyplace else. It's authentically awful, comic, and weirdly charming, all at the same time.

There's a form of selling out. It's necessary. You have to become edible for people in Texas. You have to become edible for the Christian right, for mass audiences.

I am lucky to say now that it is not frightening for me, living in L.A., to be gay. Even when I was in Texas, I wasn't afraid. I was kind of out in high school. I just could never decide on what label. I am glad that I am public about it, and I think I should be.

Let me tell you something... If you're anybody - not just me, but anybody - and you can put an oven that doesn't work at all on eBay and sign your name on it and sell it for 1200 bucks, and somebody will drive from Seattle to Dallas, Texas, to get it, that's pretty cool.