Being a rock star is like being a cult leader - you really have to be in your own religion.
Religion, in any form, is always interesting to me because of how powerful it is. Not even the religion itself, but to the people that follow it... The effect that it has had on people's minds.
I've never had any religion. I'd prefer it if I did, really. Even as a boy I just couldn't make myself believe.
I'm not a religious person, and I'm not too interested in being a part of a religion, but I do like having some sort of communal gathering, and having some sense of peoples.
I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy. Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims.
I grew up in a secular suburban Jewish household where we only observed the religion on very specific times like a funeral or a Bar Mitzvah.
Some people are that - more than a parent, more than a role model, more than anything less than a religion.
I think religion is a bunch of hooey, and I think that the holidays are an opportunity for people to get stressed out, getting their rush to shop. It's so conformist.
I don't practise any religion but I am deeply interested in the answers that mankind has come up with to explain the human situation.
I just hate one-dimensional portrayals of religion; it's too cheap and easy to do, and ignores the nuances that go into having a belief system.
Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.
It has nothing to do with commercial success. You cannot calculate in your head how to put the mosaic together to make a commercial film: that's out of the question.
A Grammy is really nice, but having lots of fans is really nice, too. I think just getting a record out is a success on its own.
As far commercial success, I don't think that's a focus but it's not that we don't enjoy that. It's not something you can attempt and achieve.
I always wrote about things that were important to me. I think our past success showed that it was also important for a lot of others.
We recorded our first CD, Sixteen Stone, with a small budget and never dreamed that we would enjoy such a high success. It was simply fantastic.
The success that Pantera had, I could have never, ever forecasted or predicted, and I always felt a responsibility to try to pay even a bit of it forward.
People have always thought that I wasn't ambitious. They judged by appearances and were fooled. I was competitive. I wanted success and was willing to work for it.
Getting rid of the dictator is only a first step in establishing a free society. The dictatorship must also be disassembled.
You can't have a healthy society unless you have healthy companies that are making a profit, that are employing people and that are growing.
Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do.
