In my early 20s I was so miserable doing construction I wanted something that paid money. I liked nice stuff. I liked cars and architecture and things that cost money. I wanted to not swing a hammer and make money... and not do stuff that was dirty. I attempted to get into comedy. I started to do stand-up but I wasn't very good at it.

I guess lyrically they're similar because they're talking about escaping the kind of misery that likes company. 'The Last One Alive ' for me is very simple. It's just about alienation really that causes anger.

When I was little I saw the play 'Les Miserables' on Broadway I thought it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

I think sometimes all you need is to hear someone else say the same thing that you're going through to realize that you're not alone. I try to put some sense of hope into the songs into whatever the situation is so that it's not just dirt drudgery and a life of misery.

The law was made for one thing alone for the exploitation of those who don't understand it or are prevented by naked misery from obeying it.

Who knows what true loneliness is - not the conventional word but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion.

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

I think that age as a number is not nearly as important as health. You can be in poor health and be pretty miserable at 40 or 50. If you're in good health you can enjoy things into your 80s.

Nearly all the powerful people of this age are unbelievers the best of them in doubt and misery the most in plodding hesitation doing as well as they can what practical work lies at hand.

Life an age to the miserable and a moment to the happy.