Devendra Banhart quotes:

Cripple crow say something for our grieving, where do we go once we start leaving. Well close that wound or else keep on bleeding and change your tune, it's got no meaning.

When I go to vote for anything, I always pencil in the proposition to return California and Texas to Mexico. I'm the one person that's voting for that one.

I find Mexico exciting to visit, but I think [it] is looked down upon. Mexico is not a very respected place, unless you're Mexican, and even then it's something of a love/hate relationship.

Africa. There are a gazillion different languages people speak there, different bone structures, so vast and different.

There is something to mystery. You make up this entire world that you fit into because of what the actual music does to you.

I'm one of those people that if you're told that if you put your hand in the fire, you'll burn your hand, I won't listen.

I see so many little boys I wanna marry, I see plenty little kids I've yet to have.

As anthropomorphic and surreal people have said my early writing was, to me it was really stock and almost banal in the sense that it was just description, the poetry of comparing: "Your feet are like A, and your eyes like B."

I do think that music videos have a huge impact on the way you listen to music.

People want to be successful, and they want to be acknowledged for what they do. Sometimes they make really great art and aren't. Historically, the best artists weren't. But their work survived.

I didn't want to make a record that was just guitar and voice, that was just the technology available to me. At the time, I remember thinking, "I am making a Faust album." That didn't translate.

I like California a lot. There's a lot of space, but it's actually the most populated place in the nation.

I cannot wait for all the mistakes we have yet to make

Some people like to say serendipitous. I like to say magical.

I think five percent of all songs can be love songs, and another five percent can be miscellaneous or political, but the rest should just be about medieval feminists.

Trying to find comfort in perpetual discomfort has been my life's work.

And because my teeth don't bite, I can take them out dancing I can take my little teeth out and show them a real good time

Having friends who are records nerds - that's the best thing you can do, have a record-geek friend to take you far.

I've always wanted to write a song that goes, "I love you" and a book that goes, "Something happened." Something very direct.

There are plenty of things in vaults that didn't sell in its time. So much stuff. But slowly these companies start to get a hint that these things have some value.

Good art doesn't really have an expiration date on it. That's something to be happy about, if you're making art.

I heard somebody say that the war ended today, but everybody knows it's going still.

There are so many bad songs that have incredible videos. It's pretty amazing, actually. The power of putting images to music is hypnotizing. It's a real power. That's a realm that I've failed at completely.

I get to swim in the ocean every single day, which is a very, very important thing to do to stay connected.

Now everybody knows about this thing that's my secret. It was my thing, the music I turned to when I was alone and needed it. It's what helps me get through these times. It's just between me and music, and now it's been shared with the world.

It only takes one profound experience to change somebody's life.

Of course, before the internet people found records, too. You can still do it. It's just that people like to make the least amount of effort as possible.

You've got to be in a place where you can put your guard down. I've got a long list of things I consider to be selling out. But amongst that list, one of them is when you make art without putting your guard down.

I know some people really try to avoid music when they're writing and recording, but I am very inspired by so many different musicians, and I need to learn. I sit around and try to play along to certain songs that I really love. It helps you explore new territory. I don't think I listen to enough.

Within America, there are extremely different place. I'm not saying it's one homogenous color. It's obviously an incredible place. There's no other place like it, and it's incredibly diverse.

"I meditate." That's like saying "I eat." Think of all the food there is! And there are almost as many varieties of mediation.

The best New York in the world is driving down the [Pacific Coast Highway] listening to the Velvet Underground. That's the best time I've ever been to New York.

You have to collaborate with the moment and the environment. It kind of was magnified by the house being a studio.

I always wanted to move to New York because of the Velvet Underground, because of the picture that they painted of New York City.

Now if I lived in my land, which I do, if I lived in Iceland, if I lived in Greensland I'd still have Chinese children, but out of my ears my little grey baby hears.