“A lot of the time when I write about the person that I love, I feel like I'm writing about New York.”

“Fashion is inspired by youth and nostalgia and draws inspiration from the best of the past.”

“Feeling like you're respected among the people who do the same thing you do is incredible and necessary.”

“I didn't live at school, I lived where I could and studied what I enjoyed studying. I took what I wanted from that education but was making my first record at the same time. I don't know anyone from school. I was just leading a different life. I was really interested in writing and other things.”

“I don't believe in the school of hard knocks, although I've had them. All that stuff about whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger is so not true. Do you know what makes you stronger? When people treat you and your art with dignity.”

“I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I've had and also the people I've had around me.”

“I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I've had and also the people I've had around me. I want to stay hopeful, even though I get scared about why we're even alive at all.”

“I knew I wanted to do something creative. I didn't think I'd have the luxury of doing something like that, because I didn't know anyone who had pursued anything they really adored, but I had dreams for singing or writing.”

“I used to like to set different film clips to classical music, not even my own songs, but make little movies.”

“I wanted a name I could shape the music towards. I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba - 'Lana Del Rey' reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.”

“I was always singing but didn't plan on pursuing it seriously. When I got to New York City when I was 18, I started playing in clubs in Brooklyn - I have good friends and devoted fans on the underground scene, but we were playing for each other at that point - and that was it.”

“I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba - Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.”

“I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It's all authentic.”

“If you are born an artist, you have no choice but to fight to stay an artist.”

“If you consider the definition of authenticity, it's saying something and actually doing it. I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It's all authentic.”

“I'm a writer first and a singer second.”

“I'm a writer first and a singer second. And then I started editing my own videos when I was 17, so it's a process I've been doing since I was younger.”

“I've been reading tabloids since I was nine. I love a good story.”

“I've been writing since I was really young, so I considered myself a writer for a really long time.”

“My music is a luxury.”

“Seeing myself on the screen makes me cringe. I understand that I am that way - pouty.”

“There's backlash about everything I do.”

“When I found somebody who I fell in love with, it made me feel different than I felt the rest of the day. It was electrifying. That's what inspired the 'Off to the Races' melodies. That's one of the times when you're feeling electrified by someone else and they make you happy to be alive.”

“When I put out 'Video Games' in May 2011, it was a 5:25-minute love song; I was surprised when a lot of people said they were listening to it. I was surprised when it went to the radio, without me even knowing how something like that even happens!”

“When I walk outside, people have something to say about it.”

“When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too. I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn't believe that we were mortal.”