Al Yankovic Quotes

I'd never imagined myself in a band. So the fact that I've had such a long career without really naturally pursuing it is really astounding. It's taken me a long time to accept what I do for a living and actually feel like I have anything of value to add to the equation.

I didn't have the greatest ride on 'SNL,' but I always felt support from gay fans, which made me feel accepted within a place I didn't feel totally accepted.

But I accepted that because God gave me other qualities and I’m grateful.

Everything in the universe wants to be loved and accepted. Our personal work is to find the love and acceptance within ourselves.

The only place you will be accepted is the place you make for yourself.

Once you have accepted yourself, it's so much easier to accept other people and their points of view.

All these weirdos, and me getting a little better every day right in the midst of them. I had never known, never even imagined for a heartbeat, that there might be a place for people like us.

One has to adopt a sort of Zen calm, in which you know you wrote the best book that you could at the time.

I've been embraced by a new community. That's what happens when you're finally honest about who you are; you find others like you.

I know my own truth. I'm in a great relationship with a woman. Maybe before it used to bother me. Then I was like, ‘This is so stupid that this bothers me. Some of my best friends in the world are gay, and if this is bothering me, then that means I have an issue with that.’ Once I figured that out for myself, I thought, ‘I don't care what anyone thinks about me.’ That's why I think I've become an ally for the gay and lesbian community. I just got [an Ally for Equality Award] the other day in Atlanta. I've very proud of my role in the community. So say what you will.

My mom has kind of been more of the emotional support system. One time I was really feeling all out of it, just dealing with a lot of cooks in the kitchen and adjusting to what it means to be in the music industry, and I called her. One of the first things she said to me was 'You have to be thankful that these people even like you, no one liked me, at all, I was not really accepted for a very long time.'

This city, all they want us to be is ourselves. You love us how we are. We’re all a work in progress as men and you still love us and I thank you so much for embracing us.

I tried to be someone else, but nothing seemed to change. I know now, this is who I really am inside. I've finally found myself, fighting for a chance. I know now, this is who I really am.

I would get songs sung to me, like 'Old Man River, 'or kids would call me Mississippi and things like that. At the time, I wished I had a name that blended in more with my surroundings. Now, though, I've really learned to love it. From fifteen, I really liked it. It felt appropriate. Before that, I don't think it quite fitted me. I had to grow into it.

Usually we regard loneliness as an enemy. Heartache is not something we choose to invite in. It's restless and pregnant and hot with the desire to escape and find something or someone to keep us company. When we can rest in the middle, we begin to have a nonthreatening relationship with loneliness, a relaxing and cooling loneliness that completely turns our usual fearful patterns upside down.

Whom you would change, you must first love.

Self-love is the starting point for everything.

As my Popo used to say, life is a tapestry we weave day by day with threads of different colors, some heavy and dark, others thin and bright, all the threads having their uses. The stupid things I did are already in the tapestry, indelible, but I’m not going to be weighed down by them till I die. What’s done is done; I have to look ahead.

There's a secret to get through loss, pain and grief. If we're alone we can't see who we are. When we join the club, other people become the mirror. Through them, we see ourselves and gain an understanding of what we're going through. Then slowly, real slowly, we learn to accept who we see in the mirror. Then you become the mirror for them; by being honest about who you are, you'll help them learn to love and accept themselves.

I wouldn't change a thing in my life, even if I could. What you go through makes you who you are and that's fine.

once you laugh at you own weaknesses, you can move forward. Comedy breaks down walls. It opens up people. If you're good, you can fill up those openings with something positive. Mabye........ combat some the ugliness in the world.

I sort of feel like it comes around again. That when you get to a certain age, when you've lived enough and you've got your friends to support you and your family to support you, you wake up one morning and think, yeah, I'm okay.

There's not one human being on the planet earth who has never felt, at some point, unaccepted. At some point in our lives, we feel like we're not good enough, but we have to step back and realize that we are.

You're not perfect, but you're not your mistakes.

Just watching people's ability to adapt, especially young people's, inspires me to accept more in life instead of wishing things were different all the time.