Rod McKuen

You know, in a way, I wish I could hate a little more. It would make me a more rounded personality.

I was tired. I peaked. I left when I was on top. One year, I did 280 concerts.

For many people, I was a phase, a part of the period of growing up. People ask me why I connected. It was presumptuous of me to say, but I'm Everyman. The difference is I put my thoughts into words.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.

I like villains because there's something so attractive about a committed person - they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They're motivated.

I'm a big action junkie. I grew up on the '80s action movies - the bad ones and the good ones.