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I Am Not A Trained Actor And Am Not Near The Top Of Anyone's Want List. I Go After What I Am Offered, If I Am So Inclined. Now And Then, I Get Offers For Things That Are Not To My Liking, In That I Just Don't Care About The Story. All This Super Tough Guy Stuff Isn't Anything That Interests Me All That Much. I Can't Think Of Anything I Turned Down That I Regret.
-Henry Rollins
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I Am Not A

Henry Rollins
I Am Not A Trained Actor And Am Not Near The Top Of Anyone's Want List. I Go After What I Am Offered, If I Am So Inclined. Now And Then, I Get Offers For Things That Are Not To My Liking, In That I Just Don't Care About The Story. All This Super Tough Guy Stuff Isn't Anything That Interests Me All That Much. I Can't Think Of Anything I Turned Down That I Regret.
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Topic
Regret
Thinking
Guy
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I Like The Idea Of Someone Else’s Love Safely Sealed In A Song Or A Book.
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America's Foreign Policy Lacks The Backbone To Do The Right Thing In Afghanistan - Which Is Leave.
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Spring And Fall, Those Are Very Inspiring Times Of The Year For Me.
Spring
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Sarah Palin Embarrasses Herself Almost Immediately Upon Opening Her Mouth To Speak Or Upon Moving Her Fingers To Send Messages To Her Dull Flock.
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At Times, I Feel America Is Something That I Can Actually Put My Arms Around, More Than A Land Mass And A Constitution, Something Far More Containable And Understandable. I Don't Exactly Know What It Is, But At These Times I Feel Completely Woven Into It.
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Phones
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I'm Pessimistic. I Don't Think That Justice Always Gets The Right Person.
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Most Poets Are Elitist Dregs More Concerned With Proving Their Skill With A Dictionary Than Communicating Ideas With Impact.
Impact
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I Have To Do Things For Myself, And If Those Standards Are Set High, Then It's Up To Me To Pass Or Fail.
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I Come From A Town Of Great Musicians: Washington, D.c. It's No Joke, That History.
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Keep Me Preoccupied Keep Me Busy, Busy, Busy So I Won't Have To Think I Don't Want To Think Because It Only Brings Me Pain I Just Keep Running Away From My Problems Keep Me Busy Give Me A Million Things To Do So I Can Keep Running Away From Myself.
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For Me, Music Was An Age/time/place Thing. One Day I Woke Up And Realized I Was Done. That Was Many Years Ago.
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The Best Compliment I Get Every Year Is That A Band Will Write Me And Say, 'we Were Just On Tour, And We Had People Coming To Our Show Saying They Had Never Heard Us Before They Heard Us On Your Show.'
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To Me, The Real 'state Of The Union' Is Found In How Americans React To Current Events.
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It Is Very Difficult To Tell Americans That They Can't Do Something.
Difficult
There's No Such Thing As An Ex-junkie.
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I'm Actually On The Twitter Like All Those Crazy Young Kids Are, And If I'm Going To Do An In-store Appearance Or I Post Something On My Website, I Tweet These Followers, A Word I Don't Like So Much, And Over 50,000 People Go, Like, 'okay, I Got It.'
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Beautiful
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I Think Americans Really Need To Start Thinking Globally. As Resources Become More Dear, We Will Be Pulled Closer To The Rest Of The World Anyway.
Thinking
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Horror Jolts Me When I Look At One Of You And See A Pair Of Beautiful Eyes That Make Me Think Your Mind Might Contain A World That Could Hold Me As The Bolts Shake Loose And Fly From My Frame.
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One Person's Roar Is Another's Whine, Just As One Person's Music Is Another's Unendurable Noise.
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All I Can Do Is Just Do Stuff While I Am Alive And Hopefully That Track Record Will Speak For Itself.
Track
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Alive
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George Zimmerman Is A Foot Soldier In A Rapidly Privatizing Country. He Is A New Centurion Of 21st-century America. Law Enforcement Is Tied Down By The Strictures Of, Well, The Law. There Is Only 'so Much They Can Do' To Take Care Of The 'problem.'
Country
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I Remember When Martin Luther King Was Assassinated. I Was Up Early Watching Television And Watched The Announcement. I Didn't Understand What The Word 'assassinated' Meant.
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Everyone Should Have The Right To Go Off And Do Their Music Or Do Their Books. The People Who Are In The Position To Censor They're Really Not Down To Reality Where That Certain Artists Are Coming From.
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I Believe That Capitalism, At Least How It's Used By Major Corporations, And Environmental Concerns Are In Opposition. To Be Ecologically Aware, Productivity Of Many Things Would Slow Down At Least For Awhile. Stockholders Don't Want To Hear About The Saving Of The Whales Or Some Stream In Kentucky. They Want A Return On Their Investment.
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Like A Lot Of Inwardly Drawn Young People, I Spent A Lot Of Time In Libraries. At My High School, I Often Spent My Lunch Breaks There.
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I'm Not Artistic Nor Am I All That Creative.
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Artistic
If American Forces Leave Afghanistan, The Taliban Is Going To Do What To America? Don't Say You're Worried About What They Will Do To The Afghan People. If That Was America's Concern, America's Operational Presence There Would Be Much Different.
America
People
Different
Quite Often People Will Get An Animal Which Is Probably Not A Good Idea For Them To Have. They Get It Out Of Enthusiasm, There Is A Genuine Interest, But Sometimes They're Not Exactly Prepared For What They're Getting Themselves Into.
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I Think That Goldman Sachs And The Pentagon Determine More Of America's Outcome Then Any President Or Any Congress, That Sounds A Bit Cynical, But I Think I Am Right.
Thinking
America
Cynical
The Arts In America Exist In Spite Of America, Not Because Of America.
Art
America
Spite
Not That The Writers Weren't Good. I Believe In Those Books And Those Writers Very Much. It's Just That In The Climate It's Really Hard To Keep The Lights On And The Doors Open When You're Selling Poetry And Literature That Appeals To A Fringe Audience.
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I Always Start Tours With A Great Deal Of Anticipation.
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Some Music Really Does Suck!
Doe
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So Many Americans, For One Reason Or Another, They Watch The News And It Doesn't Really Give Them The Idea Of The World. Or They Don't Read Or Travel. They Have No Idea That America Is Part Of The World And Not The World Itself.
Ideas
America
Giving
All Good Writers Inspire Me As I Have Never Thought I Was Any Good. As Far As A Writer Who Made Me Think I Could Do It, It Was Henry Miller. Not Because I Thought He Was So Simple That I Reckoned I Could Pull It Off As Well, But It Was His Freedom And Guts That Really Moved Me To Want To Write All The Time.
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Land
It's Difficult For Me To Be Around Anyone For Longer Than An Hour. Love, Death, Elation, Sorrow, I Just Don't Care All That Much About Any Of It. I Am At This Point, More Of An Observer/journalist.
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Up To You
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Between The Dinosaur Jr. Albums And His Recent Solo Albums, 'several Shades Of Why' And 'heavy Blanket,' J Mascis Is Emerging As One Of The Last Men From All That '80s Indie Madness, Still Writing Songs That You Want To Listen To Over And Over.
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Miles Davis Would Have This Lineup Of All These Amazing Musicians And One Day Would Just Say, 'we're Done.' After Tons Of Great Records And Tickets Sold, He Said, 'now I'm Going To Grow My Hair Out And Play My Horn Through A Wah-wah Pedal.' Rather Than Play It Safe, He Went On.
Hair
Play
One Day
An Adult Has The Opportunity To Enjoy The Wisdom Gleaned From Previous Decades Of Living And Experience.
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Adults
Enjoy
I Don't Think You'll Ever Have A Perfect World Because We Humans Are Prone To Error, And So We're Always In Search Of An Upgrade.
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Errors
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I Guess I Am Famous In A Way. I Would Rather Consider It Recognizable - I Think That Is More Logical. I Don't Feel Famous.
Thinking
Way
Logical
Without An Education, You Won't Have A Future.
Put Temptation On The Unenjoyment Line.
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It's One Thing To Buy A Copy Of 'atlas Shrugged.' You Actually Have To Read It To Get Anything Out Of It.
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Copies
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The Number Of People Who Are Actual Supporters Of Mr. Romney Could Very Well Be Less Than The Donner Party, Whose Members They Sadly Resemble In Many Ways.
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The Ones Who Don't Do Anything Are Always The Ones Who Try To Pull You Down.
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Done
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Knows
How Memories Lie To Us. How Time Coats The Ordinary With Gold. How It Breaks The Heart To Go Back And Attempt To Re-live Them. How Crushed We Are When We Discover That The Gold Was Merely Gold-plating Thinly Coated Over Lead, Chalk And Peeling Paint.
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Books Are Cool, But Knowledge Without Mileage Doesn't Mean Anything To Me.
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Lou Reed's Music Has Been In The Lives Of Millions Of People All Over The World For Decades. He Had A Truly Universal Presence And Was Respected By Musicians Across All Genres.
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Thinking
Media
Technically Speaking, There Is No Music Whatsoever On A Cd. Lots Of Information, But No Music.
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Information
I Am A Veteran Of The War On Christmas. I Am Just Emerging From A Battlefield Strewn With Dead Trees And Torn Shreds Of Brightly Colored Wrapping Paper.
War
Tree
Wrapping Paper
I Think Americans Suffer For Their Lack Of Travel, Awareness Of The World. It Has Horribly Warped Our Sense Of Place In The Scheme Of Things.
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Suffering
World
I Was In Pakistan In Islamabad When Bhutto Was Assassinated, And The Next Day, You Know, There's Just Plumes Of Smoke Everywhere. I Mean, Islamabad Is On Fire.
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Iron Will
I Look At Pictures Of You Because I Am Afraid That You Would Notice Me Staring In Real Life. I Looked At Your Picture Today For Countless Minutes. It Is Closer Than I’ll Ever Get To You For Real. I Felt Like I Was Looking At A Captured Animal At A Safe Distance. If You Knew I Was Doing This, You Would Feel Sickened And Frightened. That’s Why You’ll Never Know. Years Will Go By And You’ll Never Know. I Will Never Say The Things That I Want To Say To You. I Know The Damage It Would Do. I Love You More Than I Hate My Loneliness And Pain.
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Hate
Real
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Lonely
Cds
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Journey
Cities
Airports
I Am The Assasin Of My Dreams.
Dream
Low Self Esteem
I Have To Keep Moving I Don't Want To Think I'm Going To Work All Day Today I Don't Want To Stop Don't Want To Let My Brain Catch Up My Thoughts How Will I Be Able To Tell Them That I'm A Shadow A Grey Patch Of Cold Rotting Life
Moving
Thinking
Brain
Trayvon Martin Did Not Need To Die.
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Trayvon Martin
Trayvon
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Voice
Years
Quality
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Division
Chance
Profit
As Long As I Tell The Truth I Feel That Nobody Can Touch Me.
Long
Telling The Truth
Touch Me
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Meaningful
Knowing
Way
I'm Usually Busy - If You Call Me At The House, I Get About Four Phone Calls There A Year - I'm Usually Running Around The House With A Pen In My Mouth Holding Onto Something, Folding It, Or Doing Something To It, And It's Always A Bad Time.
Running
Phones
Years
I Know That Collector Types Can Be A Pain In The Neck And Seem Perpetually Frozen In Time - Or At Least In Their Parents' Basement - But Someone Has To Look Out For The Past, Lest It Slip Away Forever.
Pain
Past
Parent
If You Paid Americans A Living Wage, They Would Be Able To Pay For Products Made By Americans In America.
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Would Be
Pay
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Literary Merit
Judging
Merit
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Country
Gay
America
I Know I Was A Generic Dysfunctional Child, But I Think A Lot Of People Are.
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Honest
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My Laptop Seems To Know Where I Am, Even If I Don't. My Cellphone Asks Me If I Want Directions To Anywhere From The Spot I Am Standing In. I Buy A Record Online And Amazon.com Sends Me Letters, Telling Me That People Who Bought What I Bought Also Bought These Other Records.
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Records
I Was Happy To Find Out That When On Tour, Dolly Parton Doesn't Use Hotels But Stays On Her Bus Every Night, To The Point Of Having Her Buses Shipped From Austria To Australia So She Can Tour The Way She Sees Fit. I Used One Of Her Buses Once - An Honor.
Night
Australia
Honor
I'm Trying To Be Confrontational And Direct. If I Lack Directness Then I Only Have Myself To Blame Because I Lack The Skills To Make My Point Clear.
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Trying
Blame
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Army
Want
Pizza
Keep Your Blood Clean, Your Body Lean, And Your Mind Sharp.
Motivational Workout
Blood
Mind
Almost All Human Who Can Form A Sentence Will Eventually Let You In On The Fact That Their Lives Are Very Difficult And Sometimes Very Hard To Manage.
Facts
Sometimes
Form
I Hate Painting With A Broad Brush, But I Think The Birther Thing, At Its Root, Is Racist. The Guy Was Born In Hawaii. A Black Guy Is President. It's Cool. Get Over It. Just Deal With It. There's Nothing You Could Show These Birther People That Would Shut Them Up.
Hate
Thinking
Roots
I Lack The Skill To Hold A Story Line For The Length Required For A Novel Or Even A Short Story. I Have Never Had An Idea That Could Withstand A Hundred Thousand Words, Or Even Ten Thousand Words Of Rubber Meeting The Road.
Skills
Ideas
Stories
Someone Like Ashlee Simpson, She Lip-synchs On 'saturday Night Live,' Gets Totally Called Out La Milli Vanilli, And No One Really Cares That Much. It Doesn't Make Me Hate Ashlee; She's Just Taking Instructions.
Hate
Night
Care
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Mets
Apartheid
I Like It Better That People Aren't Throwing Stuff At My Face And Trying To Fight Me On Stage. Like In The '80s, It Was Just Aggravating All The Time... I Have Scars From Cigars And Cigarettes On Me, Bic Pens, Burns From Cigarette Lighters, All That.
Fighting
People
Trying
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Government
Democracy
Calling
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Fiction
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Writing
Eight
People
It's Not Lost On Me That Everyone Dies, But Some People Have A Kind Of Immortality About Them, And You Can't Imagine That They Will Ever Be Gone.
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Gone
Kind
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Photographer
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Guy
Juan
I Simply Cannot Understand How Any Parent Could Kill Themselves.
Parent
We Occupy The Planet With A Vengeance. We Seek To Dominate It.
Vengeance
Planets
I Don't Really Write For Fun; It's Not An Enjoyable Experience. For Me, Art, Or Whatever The Hell It Is I Do, Has Always Been A Refuge From That Which Makes Me Want To Tear My Lungs Out. That's Why I Play Like I Play; I'm Not Into Entertainment.
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Fun
Writing
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Vacation
Ifs
Looking For Work
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Achievement
Humanity
Brutality
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Art
Safe
Boeing
If It Were A Choice Between Me Getting Killed Or One Of My Friend's Kids, I Would Happily Take The Shot.
Kids
Choices
Shots
For Me, Jazz Will Always Be The Soundtrack Of The Civil Rights Movement.
Rights
Movement
Jazz
Of Course Same Sex Marriage Is Constitutional! The Right To Be Yourself, To Pursue Life, Liberty, And Property, Is Protected Several Ways Over Several Amendments. John Boehner Should Know This.
Being Yourself
Sex
Liberty
I Got Three Letters Today Telling Me That I'm God. Why Can't I Pay The Rent?
Three
Letters
Pay
The Blues Is Losing Someone You Love And Not Having Enough Money To Immerse Yourself In Drink.
Love
Money
Losing Someone
Since The Last Tour I Have Done A Lot Of Extensive Travel To Iraq, Kuwait, Siberia, South Korea And Other Places And Picked Up Some Hopefully Interesting Stories. We Are Living In Interesting Times And As Bad As Things Are, I Draw Considerable Inspiration From Some Of The Things I'm Seeing And People I'm Meeting. I'm Looking Forward To Getting Out On The Road And Talking About It All.
Inspiration
Talking
Korea
I Remain Hopeful That Science, Innovation And Kindness Will Come To The Fore As Things Become More And More Tense In Parts Of The World. I Think What You Are Seeing In The World Right Now Is Kind Of A Leveling Or An Attempt To Level The Playing Field.
Kindness
Thinking
Hopeful
War Is Very Sad And Small Life Is Pathetically Fragile At Times.
War
Life Is
Very Sad
I Don't Have A Wife, I Don't Have Any Kids, I Don't Have Any Addictions That Keep Me Drooling On The Couch, And I'm Kind Of Target Oriented.
Kids
Wife
Addiction
To Our Enemies All Over The World Who Plan America's Demise, Please Take My Advice. Give Up Now. No Matter What, You Will Lose. You Will Lose It All.
Giving Up
America
Advice
I Plan To Be A Part Of Haiti's Reconstruction And Future.
Haiti
Reconstruction
Plans
As Miserable As Life May Be I Hold It Pretty Precious
May
Miserable
Football Is At Least As 'gay' As Rugby, Greco-roman Wrestling And The Film '300.'
Football
Wrestling
Gay
I Continually Remind Myself To Live By A Code. It's Very Important To Me. I've Got A Bad Temper.
Important
Temper
Live By
I Have Healthy Disagreements With Political Parties I'm Not Aligned With, But I Don't Think It Should Be To The Point Where We're Cursing And Trying To Strangle Each Other.
Party
Thinking
Political
While I Disagree With Our Presence In Iraq And Afghanistan, I Have Nothing But Respect And Admiration For The Men And Women Deployed In These Places.
Men
Iraq
Admiration
Am I Self-righteous? Why Not? It's Not Like I Can Count On You To Be Righteous For Me.
Self
Alcohol
Why Not
I Do A Lot Of Stuff For Free Anyway. Like A Lot Of People Who You See Who Don't Need Money. Mick Jagger - He Needs Money? He Just Likes To Go Sing Satisfaction Every Night. If I Wrote That Song I Probably Would Do It Too.
Song
Night
People
Pride Is A Thing That I Have Tried To Abandon Completely. Try As I Might, Pride Still Creeps Into Many Of The Things I Do.
Pride
Trying
Might
The Easy Solution Isn't The Solution, It's The Problem.
Problem
Easy
Solutions
You Can Get What You Want. Never Sell Out. Don't Break. Don't Weaken. Don't Let The Kindness Of Strangers Be Your Salvation, For It Is No Salvation At All. Unless You Sleep Alone, You Sleep With The Enemy. Never Come Out Of The Storm. On The Other Hand, Maybe You Should. You Don't Have What It Takes To Go The Hard Way. Come Out Of The Cold And Sit By The Fire. Let Them Warm You With The Smiles And Promise Of Friendship's Fortune. Lose Your Edge. A Soft Body And Chained Mind Suit You. Chances Are You Don't Have What It Takes To Walk The Frozen Trail. Stay Home And Relax.
Kindness
Sleep
Home
I'm Not Trying To Amass People In The Streets. I Just Want Them To Be More Aware. So Many Americans, For One Reason Or Another, They Watch The News And It Doesn't Really Give Them The Idea Of The World. Or They Don't Read Or Travel. They Have No Idea That America Is Part Of The World And Not The World Itself. And So Anything From The Travel Stories I Tell, That's What I'm Trying To Get Across.
People
Giving
Trying
I Guess, Topic To Topic, You Could Consider Me A Left-leaning Person.
Topics
Persons
Left
I Don't Mind The Boss. I Think He's An Honest Guy. I Have Some Of His Records, Not All Of Them. I've Met A Couple Of The E-street Guys, And They Seem Really Cool.
Couple
Thinking
Guy
Kids Need Parents Who Love And Support Them Unconditionally, Full Stop.
Kids
Support
Parent
While I Have No Empirical Evidence To Back This Up, I Bet That The Number Of Homosexual People Per Thousand Has Not Fluctuated All That Much Over The Centuries. I Do Not Believe The Dented Wisdom My Father Used To Extol, That Homosexuality Was A Sure Sign Of A Civilization In Decline.
Father
Believe
Civilization
I Have No Desire To Write Anything For Screen. That's A Great Talent.
Writing
Desire
Talent
The Ninja, As You Know, Operates By Stealth. And So, Case In Point: I Put Out Records... No One Hears Them! I Make Videos... (whispers) No One Sees! I Go On Tour.... (whispers) No One Knows! Ninja! I Was Never Here!
Video
Records
Goes On
The Bible Saw That Can Get A Lot Of People Killed, So Let's Try And Steer People Away From That. I Am Not An Expert On The Bible. I Am Just Saying.
People
Trying
Saws
The Iron Is The Best Antidepressant I Have Ever Found.
Bodybuilding
Iron Will
Lifting Weights
A Great Way To Learn About Your Country Is To Leave It.
Funny
Country
Learning
Sometimes When You Meet A Musician You Are A Fan Of, And He Or She Isn't The Friendliest Person, You Walk Away From The Experience Wondering If You Will Ever Be Able To Listen To Their Music Again.
Musician
Fans
Able
I've Got A Knife And I Want To Talk To You I've Got A Prayer And I Want To Carve It To You I've Got No Chance, That's Why I'm Looking To You O Lord, Ride With Me
Prayer
Knives
Want
To See Change In Your Own Area Code Is Very Powerful. There's A Little Orphanage Down The Street From My Company, And We Donate $1 From The Sale Of Each Cd We Sell To The Orphanage.
Powerful
Cds
Littles
Whenever I Write Lyrics, In The Back Of My Mind I Always See A Guy Driving To Work, Driving To A Really Bad Job, One Of Those Horrible Institutions, Or One Of Those Low Squat Buildings In Los Angeles. I Write With That Person In My Mind.
Jobs
Writing
Guy
The Prison-industrial Complex And The Military-industrial Complex Are Here With Us And Are Multi-billion Dollar Enterprises. We Can Make More Money Off The Kid In Compton If He's A Criminal Instead Of A Scholar. It's Business.
Military
Kids
Criminals
I've Never Heard Daft Punk; I've Never Heard A Track Of Theirs In My Life. They're The Two Guys With Motorcycle Helmets On?
Two
Track
Guy
Rush Limbaugh Makes Money Getting Simpleminded People To Feel Good About Their Intellectually Undernourished Brain Spasms. He's Very Good At It, And I Scarcely Believe A Fraction Of What He Says.
Believe
People
Feel Good
If You Listen To The Way I Speak And Watch The Way I Conduct Myself - There's Nothing About Me That's Rock N' Roll. It's Like, 'hello, I'm In A Rock N' Roll Band'. 'no, You're A Narc.'
Rocks
Watches
Band
I'd Like To Talk To Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'cause I Live In California And I Just Want To See That Canned, Chemical Filled Body In My Office.
California
Office
Body
We Are Occupants. No One Has Any Lasting Purchase On Life Or On The Planet.
Planets
Lasting
I Will Never Say The Things That I Want To Say To You. I Know The Damage It Would Do. I Love You More Than I Hate My Loneliness And Pain.
Pain
Hate
Loneliness
If I Hear, 'be Afraid Of Tehran,' I'm Like, 'i'd Better Go To Tehran.'
Tehran
Ifs
I Get Tired Of Talking When I Want To Be Silent.
Tired
Talking
Want
To Get A Human Through A Life, Lives Of Broken Bones, Knock-me-over-with-a-feather Susceptibility To Myriad Viruses, And Whatever Else Might Befall Someone Will Cost Money.
Broken
Viruses
Cost
Knowledge Without Mileage Equals Bullshit.
Bullshit
Mileage
There’s One Thing About Black Sabbath Which Should Not Be Understated: If Black Sabbath Is Missing Any One Of Its Members It’s No Longer Black Sabbath.
Missing
Black
Should
I Have Heard People Say That They Felt Closer To Their Parents After They Have Died. Maybe If I Treat People As If They Were Dead, I Could Get Along With Them Better
People
Parent
Treats
There Is A Concerted Effort To Keep You And Me, You Know, The People, Away From What It [war] Really Looks Like, 'cause When You're Selling War, When It's Such A Big Industry. What They Don't Tell You Is The Rest Of It And The Down Side Of It. And So Obviously There Is A Lot Of Money And A Lot Of Time And Effort Being Spent On That Campaign "perpetual War For Perpetual Peace".
War
People
Effort
When You Title Yourself, You Immediately Lend Yourself To All Kinds Of Pretension
Titles
Kind
All Kinds
I Wasn't Playing The Music, The Music Was Playing Me... And Once That Went Away, And I Had The Feeling I Was Playing Music, I Had To Stop. The Need To Go Onstage And Get My Brain Flattened Every Night Left Me, And What I Didn't Wanna Do Is Go Onstage And Perpetrate A Fraud... You Cannot Fool An Audience.
Night
Feelings
Brain
Quite Often Governments Are One Way And The People Are Another. You Can't Judge The Many By The Actions Of A Few. What If Americans Were All Judged By The Actions Of The Bush Administration And People Did Not Know The Truth? That America Is Full Of People Who Are, At Present, Poorly Represented And Poorly Catered To By The Media. All These Places I Go, People Say That America Is Good And I'm Like, "well, Thank You, I'm Glad You Can See It." And You Know - We Are Good, We've Just Got Work To Do.
People
Judging
What If
For Me, Speaking To Anyone - On A Stage, In An Elevator - I Am Looking For Impact And Connection. The Same Goes For Writing.
Writing
Impact
Connections
Where There Is Young People And Vitality, You're Going To Find Punk Rock.
Rocks
People
Vitality
Collecting Records Is, For Many, Beyond A Hobby.
Hobbies
Records
Collecting
I Have Not The Smarts Or Patience For Political Office.
Patience
Smart
Office
I Think Politicians Get Hamstrung By The Nature Of Politics When The Private Sector Can Really Do Great Things.
Thinking
Politician
Great Things
What I'm Saying Is America Has A Job Deficit Because Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs Went Elsewhere. Not Because [barack] Obama Raised Your Taxes. He, In Fact, Lowered Them. They Are Lower.
Jobs
America
Facts
When You're Kept Out Of The Adult World, It's A Blessing In Disguise.
Blessing
Adults
World
In America, Quite Often, For People From A Certain Economic Position Two Choices Become Very Evident As To Their Adult Life. One Is Crime, One Is The Military. And It Is Quite Often That Some People Choose One Or The Other, Their Options Not Being As Many As Someone From A Higher Income.
Military
America
Two
I Don't Really Have Any Women In My Life, Actually Those Two - The Women In My Life Are Two Married Women Who Work At My Office.
Two
Office
Married
America Was Cool With Saddam Hussein When He Was Killing Iranians.
America
Hussein
Killing
This Is My Own Little Rock Theory: In My Mind, Nirvana Slayed The Hair Bands. They Shot The Top Off The Poodles.
Hair
Rocks
Mind
I Don't Believe It Mattered To Timothy Mcveigh Who Was President Or Who His Congressional Representative Was When He Blew Up The Murrah Building In 1995.
Believe
President
Building
I Have A House, I Try To Spend As Little Time In It As Possible. Not Always Easy On The Mind And Body, But It's How I Got Myself To 80-plus Countries. This Kind Of Routine Forces One To Reinvent And Improvise. The Older I Get, The More Important This Is To Me.
Country
House
Mind
Love Heals Scars Love Left
Best Love
Scar
Heal
Every Single Record I Have Is A Fossil.
Records
Fossils
August Brings Into Sharp Focus And A Furious Boil Everything I've Been Listening To In The Late Spring And Summer.
Summer
Spring
August
Nelson Mandela Will Always Be The Face Of South Africa. The Traveler Passing Through The Country Will See Mandela's Face Almost Everywhere He Looks. Truly, The Man Is Omnipresent.
Country
Men
Faces
August Used To Be A Sad Month For Me. As The Days Went On, The Thought Of School Starting Weighed Heavily Upon My Young Frame. That, Coupled With The Oppressive Heat And Humidity Of My Native Washington, D.c., Only Seemed To Heighten The Misery.
School
August
Heat And Humidity
The Ecstatic Insanity Of Romantic Pursuit Can Be So Enhanced By Music That Entire Romantic Conquests, Victories And Ruinous, Crushing Defeats Can Be Tied To Songs To Such A Degree That It's Almost Unbearable To Listen To Them Again, As They Bring Back The Memories So Vividly.
Crush
Song
Memories
For Myself, I Can't Understand A Life Without A Job. I Don't Know What I Would Do Without Employment. Retirement Is Out Of The Question For Me.
Retirement
Jobs
Employment
The Opportunity To Write For The 'l.a. Weekly' Has Been One Of The Better Breaks That Has Come My Way In A Long Time.
Writing
Opportunity
Long
I Would Never Be Innovative Enough To "blaze My Own Trail," I'm Just Trying To Be Interesting. So I Don't Look To Anyone Else As Far As Inspiration.
Inspiration
Interesting
Trying
The History Of Apartheid-era South Africa Is Incredibly Sad And At Times Infuriatingly Incomprehensible.
Eras
Apartheid
South
All My Big Heroes Are Literary, Writers. I'd Love To Meet Jimmy Hendrix Or John Coltrane, But I'd Much Rather Meet Thomas Wolfe, Or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Words And Books Have Always Meant A Lot To Me. That Someone Can Take Words And String Them Together To Where They Will Move Me Is Just A Hell Of A Thing. It's Amazing To Me; More Amazing To Me Than Music Or Painting. It's Always Been The Written Word Or The Spoken Word, Like A Great Lecture Or A Great Lyric, Or A Great Poem. To Me It's Just Amazing. And I Always Aspire Toward Capturing That, Or My Version Of It.
Moving
Book
Hero
Russia Is Tough. The History, The Land, The People - Brutal.
Russia
Land
People
I Think We Are In Fact, Losing Free Speech. We Don't Seem To Care Though. Many Of Us Don't Seem To Notice. We Will Have To Do A Lot Of Work To Bring Back The American Way To America.
Thinking
America
Care
I Think There Will Always Be Great New Music And Bands. As Long As There's People Around, There's Going To Be Great Music. I Think There's Bands Like Wolf Eyes, Q & Not U, The Evens And Many Others That Are Doing Great Stuff. The Music That Doesn't Please You, You Just Don't Listen. No One Makes Me Listen To Nickelback, So Long May They Wave.
Eye
Thinking
Long
Sometimes I Would Get Invited To A Party Or To Go Out To Dinner By One Of Them And I Would Decline. Part Of Me Wanted To Go, But Those Kind Of Outings Always Made Me Feel Even More Alienated Than Usual. Hearing Them Talk Made Me Feel Lonely And Hateful At The Same Time. Lonely Because I Didn't Fit In, Never Did. When I Was Reminded, It Hurt. And Hateful Because It Reaffirmed What I Already Knew, That I Was Alone And On The Outside.
Lonely
Hurt
Party
I'm Not Interested In Censorship. I Like The First Amendment Very Much.
Firsts
Censorship
First Amendment
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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