I used to turn to nature and animals a lot. And fishing. I spend time still with my Bible and the gospel music, and I still have to feed the animals! But my wife and daughter have brought me a world of perspective when I'm feeling just a little "extra important."

Brandi Carlile

All of these lines across my face, tell you the story of who I am. So many stories of where I've been and how I got to where I am.

Brandi Carlile

lines who-i-am stories

But I'm warning you, we're growing up.

Brandi Carlile

growing growing-up warning

Privilege and complacency paralyze me with fear sometimes. But the less vulnerable we are because of privilege, the country we're born in, or the security we enjoy, the more vulnerable our souls are to apathy.

Brandi Carlile

complacency soul country

The purpose of it all is love.

Brandi Carlile

purpose

You can dance in a hurricane, but only if you're standing in the eye.

Brandi Carlile

hurricanes standing eye

In life, I'm most inspired by entertaining people and driven by the desire to do it by such a powerful force that I think it influences everything I do.

Brandi Carlile

powerful people thinking

Wherever is your heart I call home.

Brandi Carlile

home heart

When I was younger, I was always running into other girls involved in music. When I was about 14 or 15, one of my friend's dads was an Elvis impersonator and asked us to sing backups at a rehearsal. I did well and was hired. Did that for about two years.

Brandi Carlile

dad girl running

There are still civil rights issues. There are still people who can't be visited by their spouse in the hospital because they're gay. These are humanitarian issues. At the end of the day, all you want is for people to be happy in the pursuit of life, love and liberty.

Brandi Carlile

love-life issues gay

You know, your first album is about really amazing things. Your first album is always about coming of age, first love, first loss, usually you suffer a first loss of someone that you love to death, even, you know, really big life lessons, things you learn from your parents' divorce or from the travels that you took.

Brandi Carlile

life-lesson divorce first-love

Writing is sort of putting a puzzle together halfway. Then, performing it has always been the completion of it. Once that happens, I'm feeling verbally communal with other people. It's out there and I feel so much better about it.

Brandi Carlile

feelings writing people

People sing each other's songs and they cultivate standards. That's the reason why we have folk music and folk stories. History is told through song.

Brandi Carlile

stories song people

The oppression of women is the single most corrosive and urgent problem of our time.

Brandi Carlile

our-time oppression problem

The mole can't live in your dollhouse.

Brandi Carlile

dollhouses moles

I tend to support and get behind issues instead of candidates, because of the whole 'Super Bowl' generalization of our world - You're on this side, I'm on that side; you're a Republican, I'm a Democrat; you're country music, I'm rock music.

Brandi Carlile

issues our-world country

Bear the burdens of others, but don't put them in your pocket too.

Brandi Carlile

burden pockets bears

I've read and heard that some of the most inspiring vocal interpreters adhere habitually to one rule: Always think the lyrics as you're singing them, so that the sentiment is always appropriate and heartfelt.

Brandi Carlile

heartfelt singing thinking

I'd love to claim the title of 'songwriter' or 'intellectual,' but the truth is that anything that I ever learned how to do in conjunction with music was purely so that I would have a platform to sing from.

Brandi Carlile

titles truth-is intellectual

I didn't get bullied any more than anybody else. I think I got bullied more for being poor than being gay. But no more than any other kid. And I'm sure that I did my fair share of picking on other kids, too. We're all humans.

Brandi Carlile

gay kids thinking

Coffee, whiskey, and fishing poles. That’s really all you need in life.

Brandi Carlile

coffee fishing needs