Morissette: "I see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament."

Morissette: "But I love to entertain. My vocation is to accrue all these experiences, to write about them, to get them out of my system, to not get sick, and then to share them publicly."

Morissette: "I know that I'm deeply, spiritually, profoundly philosophical and I also know that I'm about the flakiest person you're gonna meet."

Morissette: "I have not an ounce of regret. Every link is so valuable in forming the chain that is my life. Who I am today is because of those links, and I wouldn't change any of them."

Morissette: "They're different kinds of challenges depending upon what phase of life I'm in."

Morissette: "Canada has a passive-aggressive culture, with a lot of sarcasm and righteousness. That went with my weird messianic complex. The ego is a fascinating monster. I was taught from a young age that I had to serve, so that turned into me thinking I had to save the planet."

Morissette: "I saw music as a way to entertain people and take them away from their daily lives and put smiles on their faces, as opposed to what I see it being now, which is a way for me to actually communicate, and a way for me to tap into my subconscious."

Morissette: "I'm really clear about what my life mission is now. There's no more depression or lethargy, and I feel like I've returned to the athlete I once was. I'm integrating all the parts of me - jock, musician, writer, poet, philosopher - and becoming stronger as a result."

Morissette: "There's cleanliness to how I eat now. I'm much more in tune with my body, so now that I'm so in tune based on having become a semivegan, I can tell what foods affect energy levels. I can tell when I've been eating particularly high nutrient foods or I can tell when my glycemic levels are all over the place."

Morissette: "Courage and willingness to just go for it, whether it is a conversation or a spontaneous trip or trying new things that are scary - it is a really attractive quality."

Morissette: "Your political views really denote your spiritual views."

Morissette: "I need to be performing. I need to be acting. I need to be designing a condo and ripping down walls and buying new plates and looking at fashion magazines. There always has to be some movement in the artistic department for me to not get really, really low."

Morissette: "I've been doing a lot of different cross-training and kickboxing and Capoeira and kite surfing, and I've just really been back to what I consider my original athletic self."

Morissette: "When I had moved to Toronto, I was alone in a big city, not knowing anyone. I had several depressions every day, until I heard LittleEarthquakes from Tori Amos. Her music turned my life upside down. She touched me like no woman had ever done with her music before and she taught me another way to sing. All my negative feelings, which I had been carrying with me for so long and which I didn't know what to do with, suddenly got use and meaning. I discovered I must not hide the feelings, but use them. But I still had a lot of sh*t to deal with."

Morissette: "For four to six months at a time, I would barely eat. I lived on a diet of Melba toast, carrots, and black coffee."

Morissette: "A good man often appears gauche simply because he does not take advantage of the myriad mean little chances of making himself look stylish. Preferring truth to form, he is not constantly at work upon the facade of his appearance."

Morissette: "I wish people could achieve what they think would bring them happiness in order for them to realize that that's not really what happiness is."

Morissette: "I still indulge in a glass of wine or chocolate - treats are mandatory. Without deviating from the day-to-day healthy diet once in a while, it wouldn't be sustainable for me, and that's what I wanted: an approach to eating to last my entire life."

Morissette: "In the face of patriarchy, it is a brave act indeed for both men and women to embrace, rather than shame or attempt to eradicate, the feminine."

Morissette: "The person who knows HOW will always have a job. The person who knows WHY will always be his boss."

Morissette: "I think it's child abuse to have someone in the public eye too young. Society basically values wealth and fame and power at the cost of well-being. In the case of a child, it's at the cost of someone's natural development. It's already hard enough to develop."

Morissette: "I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it."

Morissette: "Do I appreciate the idea of jealousy, revenge and all these so-called dark qualities? Yes. Do I write these songs in order to engage in some public war with someone? No."

Morissette: "Trauma happens in relationships, so it can only be healed in relationships. Art can't provide healing. It can be cathartic and therapeutic but a relationship is a three-part journey."

Morissette: "The spirituality that I experience sometimes touches on religion, in that I resonate with the thread of continuity that permeates through all religions. But in terms of it being a concretized, organized part of my life, it's not."

Morissette: "As a teen, I was both anorexic and bulimic."

Morissette: "My son was five months old, and I built a makeshift studio in my living room so that I could do the attachment parenting approach and write the record at the same time. That was fortuitous, that we could build that in the house."

Morissette: "What influenced me was Tori Amos, who was unapologetic about expressing anger through music, and Sinead O'Connor. Those two in particular were really moving for me, and very inspiring, before I wrote 'Jagged Little Pill.'"

Morissette: "Infidelity is a deal breaker for me. I've broken up with people over it. You can't do monogamy 90 percent of the time."

Morissette: "Ageism works in both directions. As a teenager in the public eye, people would talk condescendingly to me. When you get older there's this feeling that you have to start carving up your face and body. Right now I'm in the middle ground - I think women in their thirties are taken seriously."

Morissette: "I make up new lyrics to well-known lullabies. Mostly because I don't actually know a lot of the lyrics."

Morissette: "Then I realized that secrecy is actually to the detriment of my own peace of mind and self, and that I could still sustain my belief in privacy and be authentic and transparent at the same time. It was a pretty revelatory moment, and there's been a liberating force that's come from it."

Morissette: "I found that the more truthful and vulnerable I was, the more empowering it was for me."

Morissette: "I didn't want to be one of those women who wake up at 63 years old and realize they've missed the window of opportunity for marriage and children."

Morissette: "Typically, I would run away from conflict and write about it - that was easier than staying and dealing face-to-face with humans; that's terrifying for me."

Morissette: "But once I acclimated and really used fame for what it was offering me as a tool to serve my life purpose of inspiring and contributing, then it started to get fun again."

Morissette: "Long hair is a security blanket for me. I cut it short a few years ago and I really never want to do that again. When I do cut it, I cut it myself."

Morissette: "My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people."

Morissette: "Peace of mind for five minutes, that's what I crave."