Im doing good. Ive had a slight nervous breakdown in the 60s. I got th — Brian Wilson

"Did I suffer from depression? Yes, a little, from time to time. Yes. … Im not as depressed as I was. I get depressed now and then but not very much anymore. … At the height of it it was just God-awful. It was really bad."

"All of us have the privilege of making music that helps and heals — to make music that makes people happier, stronger and kinder. Dont forget: music is Gods voice."

"On all of [our Beach Boys records] I said this is a smash! this is a number one smash! And thats how I used to talk to people. Id talk to Mike Love, Id say weve got a Top Ten smash on our hands! On Billboard, on Cashbox. And then finally itd go to number one and Id call him and say, "Weve made it to number one!" and hed go, "Whoa!" Wed get excited, right. We couldnt help it. Its an exciting thing to get a number one record. A number one record is like the first time you ever fucked a girl, its a thrill. You know what I mean?"

"It started out — my mom and dad took a little vacation to Mexico and they left $250 for food. But instead of food we went and bought some instruments. We got a bass, guitar and a set of drums. … I was 19. Dennis was 15. Carl was 17. Mike was 18. Al was 19. And so we wrote a song called "Surfin" in my living room. We were all playing and singing and Mike and I wrote a song called "Surfin" and thats how it all started."

"Now and then Ill be a little brief with some of my band members. I wont talk or Ill refrain from talking to my band while were rehearsing. But basically I am friendly with people. … Ill go on cold streaks. Ill work with a collaborator then Ill stop calling the collaborator for a couple weeks. Ill say I need a break from you for a couple weeks. But theyre "OK, fine, fine, Ill see you in two weeks."

"Brian didnt really write lyrics to the songs; he edited them. That means he might have simply said that he didnt like a particular line. I would then have tried to convince him of its merit, if I felt strongly about it, or I would have written an alternate in an attempt to get closer to what he seemed to be after. None of this is to say that he didnt supply words to some of the songs. He did. But his role was more to react to what I did after I did it, rather than to direct it before it occurred or even as it was occurring. Its fair to say that the general tenor of the lyrics was always his and the actual choice of words was usually mine. I was really just the interpreter."