I Live My Life Through The Prism Of Capitalism And Physiological Limits And Eventualities. In All Of That, There Is No Spirituality Required. No God And Karma Is Needed For The Numbers. I Live My Life By The Numbers. Not Only Am I An American, I Am An Americanist.

-Henry Rollins

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I Live My Life

Henry Rollins

Topic

Karma

Numbers

Limits

More From Henry Rollins

The First Several Years Of My Life Were Used To Upload Incredible Amounts Of Fear, And I Just Became Afraid Of Everything. I Was Afraid Of My Parents, Afraid Of My Classmates, Afraid Of The Streets Of Washington, D.c. I Would Flinch At Every Gesture.

Years

Parent

Gestures

I Come From A Town Of Great Musicians: Washington, D.c. It's No Joke, That History.

Towns

Musician

Great Music

I'm Not Trying To Say I'm A Big Tough Guy... I'm A Typical American-waist Deep In This Violent Culture.

Guy

Trying

Typical

I Never Thought About Getting Any Tattoos Removed.

Tattoo

There Are Things That Happen So Quickly. A Better Cameraman Can Capture Them, But If The Light Is Not Bright And You Hoist Up Your Camera By The Time You've Dialed In Your Settings. There Are Eye Blink Moments Where You're Like "aaahhhh, I Wish," But Those Are Too Many To Catalogue. Nothing Really Sticks Out.

Eye

Light

Wish

When You're Very Young, Images That You Upload Into Your Very Young Mind Tend To Stay With You.

Mind

Young Minds

Young

There's Tons Of Junk Food For Your Mind On The Internet. You Can Sit There For Three Or 10 Or 20 Hours A Day Getting In Online Arguments With Other People Who Also Choose To Waste Their Time.

People

Mind

Three

Russia Is Tough. The History, The Land, The People - Brutal.

Russia

Land

People

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

War Is Very Sad And Small Life Is Pathetically Fragile At Times.

War

Life Is

Very Sad

The First Van Halen Album Makes Johnny Rotten Out To Be What He Really Was And Still Is: A Hairdresser.

Firsts

Albums

Rotten

Please Don't Think That I Am One Of Those Squishy Types Who Can't Handle Reality. I Have Plenty Of Real-world Things To Deal With All The Time. I Have Deadlines, Meetings, I Answer The Phone, I Get Turned Down, I Wait In Lines And Am Forced To Pass For Normal All The Time.

Real

Thinking

Phones

My Love Is A Thousand French Poets Puking Black Blood On Your Cure Cd Collection.

Love Is

Blood

Cds

I Was A Very Repressed Young Person. I Wasn't Good At School. I Didn't Fit In.

School

Fit

Young

Voting Is Completely Important. People In America Think Democracy Is A Given. I Think Of It As An Ecosystem, And What Gets In The Way Of It Is Politicians And Apathy.

Thinking

Ecosystems

America

I'll Never Forget How The Depression And Loneliness Felt Good And Bad At The Same Time. Still Does.

Depression

Loneliness

Feel Good

I Know I Was A Generic Dysfunctional Child, But I Think A Lot Of People Are.

Children

Thinking

People

The World's A Better Place Since I Chose Music.

World

Better Place

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.

Mean

Fire

Next Day

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

My Desires Are Foolish. The Things I Want Are Better Kept To Myself. The Hand Of Silence Is Steady. The Hard Blade Of Silence Is Clean Like Night. The Code Is Absolute. Silence Is Eternal And Patient. Silence Never Makes A Fool Of Itself Like I Have So Many Times.

Night

Hands

Silence

I Can't Remember That I Ever Had Just A Minute Of Stage Fright.

Fear

Remember

Minutes

We City Dwellers, We Residents Of Los Angeles And The Surrounding Areas, Are For The Most Part Urbanized To Some Extent. We Know Deadlines, Start Times And Traffic.

Cities

Los Angeles

Residents

I Would Like Go To Palestine And Interview People There About What Their Lives Are Like; Same Thing In Iran.

Iran

People

Interviews

Now, If Someone Wants To Spit On Me, I Just Roll Up The Window Of My Bmw 540i.

Spit Up

Bmw

Want

Canadians Are Often A Friendly Bunch.

Friendly

Bunch

Unsurprisingly, Nelson Mandela Had And Still Has Many Detractors.

Stills

Nelson

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

I Feel Pain Everyday Of My Life. When You See Me Perform, It's That Pain You're Seeing Coming Out. I Put All My Emotions, All My Feelings, And My Body On The Line. People Hurt Me, I Hurt Myself - Mentally, Physically

Hurt

Pain

People

I Want To Meet A Woman That Will Make Me Stop And Listen To What She Has To Say. I Want A Woman Who Will Make My Jaw Drop In Awe. A Woman That Has Little Time For Me. One Who Does Not Throw Herself At Me. One Who Respects Herself Who Has A Sense Of Herself. Where Is She

Doe

Want

Littles

I Never Thought I Was Right For Tv Or That Tv Was Right For Me.

Tvs

I Never Had Any Interest In Being Involved With The Boy Scouts.

Boys

Boy Scout

Interest

My Whole Access Into Culture Was Violent. Violence Is Something I Understand. Don't Like It, Don't Condone It, But I Sure Understand Where It Comes From.

Culture

Violence

Violent

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

I Used To Love You I Still Do So Selfish I Love The Old You The You That Didnt Shoot Drugs ...the You That Didnt Get Beat On By Men You Laugh In My Face And Call Me A Fool But Its True I Still Love You Sometimes,i Can See The Old You When Your Eyes Flash When You Almost Look Alive

Selfish

Love You

Eye

I Can Only Write About Personal Stuff, About My Point Of View.

Writing

Views

Stuff

Texas Is A Hotbed Of Insanely Good Bands And Musicians.

Texas

Musician

Band

The Public Library System Of The United States Is Worth Preserving.

Library

United States

States

I Feel Close To People Like Jimi Hendrix Because I Connect With His Music. Not The Man But What He Did.

Men

People

He Man

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.

Memories

Lying

Heart

We Should Treat Each Other Better. Why In The Hell Would You Still Have Racism? This Ancient, Moronic Hatred? Why Does Our Foreign Policy Have To Always Involve So Much Death And So Much Death Of Innocent People As A Matter Of Course, To The Point To Where No One Bothers To Say Anything. I Guess A Lot Of People Don't Want To Move Forward. It's Frustrating At Times.

Moving

Racism

People

There's No Such Thing As An Ex-junkie.

Junkie

Exes

A Man With An Excruciatingly Painful Condition Wrote Me And Told Me That His Doctor Said That The Only Cure For What He Has Is Death, And He Might Want To Consider Suicide. What Do You Say To Him? I Doubt The, "hey Let's Go Get Some Coffee And Talk" Thing Is Going To Be At All Helpful.

Suicide

Coffee

Men

I'm Not Much Of An Improv Guy. That's A Talent I Don't Have.

Guy

Talent

I Work Pretty Much Every Day. I Can't Really Separate It From Life, So I Guess The Work Is My Life.

I Can

You Want To Meet A Bunch Of Really Friendly People? Go To A Slayer Concert. There'll Be Some Real Psychos There, But Most Of Those People Will Take Care Of Each Other.

Real

People

Friendly

I Think It's Very Sad That The Political Landscape Is So Dotted With Religious Extremists Who Feel The Need To Infringe Upon The Lives Of Decent, Free And Harmless Americans Who Want Nothing More Than To Be In Love And To Spend The Rest Of Their Lives Together.

Religious

Thinking

Political

I Don't Get A Rush From Anything. I Did Music As Hard As I Could. Acting For Me At Least, Is A Far More Restrained Performance Than Music. It Requires A Lot Of Skill And Discipline. I'm Not Any Good At It But I Enjoy Trying To Be Good At It.

Skills

Discipline

Trying

If I Was Gay, There Would Be No Closet. You Would Never See The Closet I Came Out Of. Why? Because I'd Have Burned It For Kindling By The Time I Was Twelve... If I Was Gay, At This Stage Of The Game?age 37, Aging Alternative Icon?i'd Be Taking Out Ads.

Gay

Games

Icons

The Bad Seeds Are A Band I Will Travel A Great Distance To See Whenever Possible.

Distance

Band

Bad Seed

Shirley Sherrod Seems Like A Good And Dedicated Person.

Dedicated

Persons

Seems

Love Is Self Deception. I Am A Living Creature. Hate Is Only Self Love. I Am A Double Feature.

Hate

Love Is

Self

Nietzsche, Who You Don't Spend Too Much Time With After The Age Of Seventeen, Did Have That One Great Line About "he Who Stares Into The Abyss Must Know That The Abyss Also Stares Into Him" And I Never Really Understood That Until My Friend Got Killed And You Really Get Your Head Around The Idea Of What Horror Means. It's A Truly Awful Thing, To Really, Kind Of Have That Understanding Of Things And When You Really Peer Into That.

Mean

Ideas

Understanding

Imagine A 15-year-old Kid Saying, 'i Have Two Moms - It's Cool.' I Don't Fear That At All.

Mom

Kids

Years

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.

Believe

Kentucky

Whales

I Think It's Important To Have Some Documentation Of The Past.

Past

Thinking

Important

When You Hear About What Someone Else Is Going Through, And You Are Unable To Distance Yourself From It Or In Any Way Muzzle Your Empathy And Are Inspired To Actually Do Something, These Are Moments To Learn From.

Distance

Empathy

Muzzle

Discipline Is Money In The Bank. A Real Friend, True Strength.

Real

Real Friends

Discipline

I Am Talking About Ultimate Deceit. I Am Talking About Unparalleled Treachery. Bottomless Lies. Depths That Are Seen That Are Previously Unimaginable. Darkness And Shattering Despair That Could Break Bones. Paranoia And Horror That Could Stop The Heart Cold. All Inflicted On One's Self By One's Self. The Soul Turns Schizophrenic And Goes Hopelessly Insane.

Lying

Heart

Self

Seasonal Change In Los Angeles Is Often A Very Subtle Thing. It's Not As If We Finally Stop Having To Shovel The Snow Out Of Our Driveways And Can Put Our Parkas Back In The Closet.

Snow

Los Angeles

Subtle

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

For Many, An Album Is No Longer A Considerable Feat Of An Artist But Just Sounds To Be Half-listened To While One Is Halfheartedly Engaged In Something Else.

Artist

Sound

Albums

I Warn People, Your 40s Will Require Massive Amounts Of Humor And Humility.

Humility

People

Massive

Travelling As Extensively As I Do... The Take Away For Me Has Made Me Very Humble And Very Sympathetic To Other People's Plight In The World And Very Desirous Of Being Proactive In Being Part Of A Solution Somehow And Not Part Of A Problem. It's Made Me Very Patient And Very Grateful For Where I Live.

Grateful

Humble

People

I Would Like To Get Out To The Region In The Caspian Sea. I Would Like To Go There. I Would Like To Get To Darfur. I Would Like To Get To Khartoum In Northern Sudan. I Would Like To Get To Zimbabwe. I Would Like To Go Back To North Korea, If I Could. I Would Like To Go To Yemen. I Would Like To Get To Kashmir. Most Of Those Destinations I Will Get To.

Zimbabwe

Korea

Sea

In The Theory Of Evolution There Is No Talk Of God And No Bibles Are Used. They're Not Looking For Higher Powers, Extraterrestrials, Or Anything Else That Could Be Found In The Science Fiction Section, Because They Are Not Dealing With Fiction.

Theory Of Evolution

Fiction

Used

I Know You’ll Never Love Me But Maybe You’ll Stay For Awhile.

Knows

One Person's Disaster Is Another Person's Talking Point.

Talking

Disaster

Persons

I Do Think That Americans Are Poorly Served By Their Media, At Times Extremely Poorly Served By Their Elected Officials Who Are Non Responsive To Majority Feelings And Cut Off To A Certain Degree From The Affairs Of The World.

Cutting

Thinking

Media

Can You Imagine Telling A Woman She Can't Vote!? The Women I Hang Out With Would Be Going Home With Parts Of Your Anatomy Swinging From Their Rearview.

Home

Would Be

Vote

It Is Very Difficult To Tell Americans That They Can't Do Something.

Difficult

I See Violence In Myself; I've Done Some Pretty Violent Things In My Lifetime And I've Been Around Some Pretty Severe Violence All The Way Up To Homicide.

Done

Way

Violence

For Me, Jazz Will Always Be The Soundtrack Of The Civil Rights Movement.

Rights

Movement

Jazz

Help Me To Withstand Your Beauty As It Stands Out Of Reach. Give Me The Capacity To Forget Ever Having Felt Your Touch.

Giving

Helping

Forget

Maybe I'm Ego-tripping, But I Don't Find Myself A Particularly Horrible Person, So I Don't Think I Need To Hold Back Anything I Think Or Feel.

Thinking

Ego

Needs

I Have Always Identified With Joan Didion's Depiction Of Los Angeles And Southern California, Ever Since Reading 'play It As It Lays,' 'slouching Towards Bethlehem' And 'the White Album.'

Reading

Play

California

This Is My 25th Year Of Being On Stage. A Lot Of People Who I Kind Of Toed Up To The Starting Line With Are No Longer In This Position. I Feel Very, Very Lucky.

Years

People

Lucky

There Is A Lot To Say About What Bikini Kill And Other 'riot Grrrl' Bands Were Able To Achieve When They First Set Out. They Were Not Some Momentary, Convulsive, Creative Spasm Of Independent Music. There Was A Very Real, Relevant Point Of View Being Expressed.

Real

Independent

Views

I Get A Lot Of Shit Because I Put "i" In The Lyrics All The Time. The "i" Is Always For Someone Else... When I Say "i," It's So That When That Person Is Singing Along With The Song, It Empowers Them.

Song

Empowering

Singing

I Guess, Topic To Topic, You Could Consider Me A Left-leaning Person.

Topics

Persons

Left

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.

Regret

Thinking

Guy

I Don't Need Music For The Good Times. I Don't Have That Kind Of Need. Music Doesn't Serve Me Like That.

Needs

Good Times

Kind

I'm Always Looking, People Are Always Presenting And I Have Found That Every Year Of My Life There's Been Great Bands. All Over The World, All The Time. So When Someone Goes, "music Sucks Now!" I'll Go, "i Don't Think So. Not Over At My House."

Thinking

Years

People

My Understanding Of First-degree Murder Is That Premeditation Needs To Be Proven.

Understanding

Degrees

Needs

When Life Hands You A Lemon, Say, 'oh Yeah, I Like Lemons! What Else Ya Got?

Life

Hands

Fruit

I Definitely Learned A Lesson This Time. I Know That I Can Be Broken. I Am Not As Tough As I Thought. I See It Now. At This Point, It's The Only Thing Good That Came Out Of All Of This. I Know Myself Better Now And Know What I Have To Do.

Broken

Lessons

Tough

Perfection. I Have Been Waiting All My Life To Be With You. My Heart Slams Against My Ribs When I Think Of The Slaughtered Nights I Spent All Over The World Waiting To Feel Your Touch.

Heart

Night

Thinking

There Is No Heaven For Me And No Hell. And Certainly Not Any Karma.

Karma

Heaven

Hell

I Want My Fellow Citizens To Wise Up And Stop Falling For [war]. I Try With My Limited Access, I'm Not Getting Into Kabul With A Camera, They're Not Letting Me Get Into Benghazi With A Camera. I Do What I Can With My Flimsy American Passport And A Visa. The Photos Are A Bit More Heavy From Southern Sudan And Haiti And Cuba.

Wise

War

Fall

Early Spring Is The Time For Vigorous Change, A Preparation For The Heat-driven Oppression That Is To Come.

Spring

Preparation

Heat

There're Some Places That Are More Difficult Or Dangerous To Navigate And I Wouldn't Look Forward To Going Back. Like I'd Much Rather Go Back To Afghanistan - Which Fascinates Me - Quicker Than I'd Go Back To Spend A Week Walking Around Nairobi, Kenya, Which Is A Great And Easy Way To Get Yourself Killed.

Way

Looks

Kenya

Citizens United Didn't Work. Hey, Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, Shellgame Adelson: Democracy Trumps Money Sometimes.

Brother

Democracy

Citizens United

It's Hard To Judge Literary Merit.

Literary Merit

Judging

Merit

I Want To Change Things For The Better, Just Like Everybody Else.

Want

Things Change

Disharmony

To My Ears, Jazz Sounds Better In Warm Weather And After The Sun Has Gone Down. While I Will Listen To Some Of My Favorite Jazz Records In Cooler Weather, It's The Warmer Nights That Really Make Them Come Alive. Something About Those Sounds And The Heat Of The Night Really Makes It Happen For Me.

Night

Weather

Sound

Music Keeps You Young. Having Music In Your Life Keeps You Open To Things.

Young

As Far As I Have Been Able To Understand, The Japanese Seem To Keep Things Close To The Vest. Friendly But Remote And Polite To The Point Of Being Invisible. It Is In The Music, Literature, Film And Art That The Japanese Really Seem To Express Themselves.

Art

Friendly

Literature

I Think About The Meaning Of Pain. Pain Is Personal. It Really Belongs To The One Feeling It. Probably The Only Thing That Is Your Own. I Like Mine.

Pain

Thinking

Feelings

You Can Find Me In The Frozen Mood Section.

Frozen

Mood

Find Me

Don't Hide Behind The Constitution Or The Bible. If You're Against Gay Marriage, Just Be Honest, Put A Scarlet 'h' On Your Shirt, And Say, 'i Am A Homophobe!'

Gay

Honest

Constitution

The More I Learn About Mr. Romney, The Less There Is To Admire.

Admire

Romney

Do You Know Why Albert Camus Was So Prolific? He Wrote To Keep From Screaming.

Knows

Do You Know

I'm Not In A Position Where I Get To Pick And Choose Roles. I Usually Go On Auditions In Long Lines And Embarrass Myself In Front Of Casting Directors, And With A Lump In My Throat And My Ears Burning, I Walk Past Reception And Smirking Actors As I Go To The Parking Garage And Go Back On The Highway.

Past

Long

Directors

Every Single Record I Have Is A Fossil.

Records

Fossils

He Said That Hate Makes The World Go Round People Are Afraid Of What They Really Want They Make Enemies Of All The Things That They Would Like To Be They Condition Themselves To Not Embrace What They Are Love Is A Clinging Nausea I Tried To Disagree With Him It Was No Use I Never Saw A More Honest Look In Anyone's Eyes.

Hate

Eye

Love Is

Entertainment's Hard On The Ego. I See Why Actors Are So Psycho Now. Because There's So Much 'we Don't Want You' Going On In Acting. Even Big People Get Rejected But The Smaller People - They Really Get Rejected. Trust Me - I Know.

People

Ego

Acting

For The Last 30-plus Years, I Have Been Doing One Long, Uninterrupted Improv.

Years

Long

Lasts

The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 Was Vigorously And Vociferously Opposed By The Southern States. President Lyndon B. Johnson Signed It Into Law Nonetheless.

Rights

Law

Southern

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

Being In New York Is An Almost Overwhelming Experience. While Washington, D.c., Is My Favorite American City, I Regard New York City As The Most Amazing City In The World. No Other Comes Close. It Is An Incredible, Inexhaustible Engine.

New York

Cities

World

Human Beings Should Not Be Reduced To A State To Where They Almost Get Into A Fight Over A Small Bar Of Soap.

Fighting

Bars

Soap

Once You Say Something, It Stays Said. I Apologized To Anyone Who May Have Been Hurt By What I Said, And I Really Meant It. I Am Absolutely Not Interested In Hurting Anyone, Or Being Mean Or Insensitive.

Hurt

Mean

May

I Have Had A Number Of Less-than-enviable Moments In My Life When Dealing With Other People. I Won't Attempt To Blunt That By Saying I Am Not The Only One.

Numbers

People

Moments

I Was Never Told To "get Up, Get Out There, Get A Job." It Was Never A Thing Either Parent Ever Said I Had To Do. It Was What I Wanted To Do. I Think I Was Very Interested In Being Away From Them As Much As Possible. Employment Was Great For That.

Jobs

Thinking

Parent

You Have To Get Away From Them. You Have To Get As Far Away As You Can Otherwise They'll Kill You With Their Lives. They Don't Know What They Do. They Are Careless With Themselves And They Take Too Much For Granted. They Make Their Shortcomings Your Problem. The Only Way To Keep Your Head Above It And Heal Your Wounds Is To Crawl Away.

Too Much

Way

Problem

Everything I Do, Writing, Touring, Travelling, It All Comes From The Punk And Hardcore Attitude, From That Expression - From Being Open To Try Things But Relying On Yourself, Taking What You Have Into The Battle And Making Of It What You Will, Hoping You Can Figure It Out As You Go. Make Some Sense Of It.

Attitude

Writing

Expression

The History Of Apartheid-era South Africa Is Incredibly Sad And At Times Infuriatingly Incomprehensible.

Eras

Apartheid

South

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.

Thinking

Errors

Perfect

Creativity Requires A Lot Of Pass/fail/start Again And It Is Often Hard On The Psyche.

Creativity

Failing

Hard

Politics Is A Thing That I Follow Because It Determines What Is Going On In My Country, But I Vote And Deal With Politicians With A Great Degree Of Jaundiced Eye.

Country

Eye

Degrees

I Think It Is Incumbent On Anyone Who Can To Lift Human Dignity To The Highest Possible Levels, Maintaining One's Own And Helping To Raise That Of Others.

Thinking

Maintaining

Levels

After Having Read A Lot Of Fiction, Literature, Whatever You Want To Call It, From Wolfe To Houellebecq, I Think You Have To Have An Understanding And Insight Of The Human Condition That Is Informed And Motivated By A Desire To Immerse Yourself In The Human World And Bring These Stories To Bear.

Thinking

Understanding

Desire

To Me, The Real 'state Of The Union' Is Found In How Americans React To Current Events.

Real

Events

Unions

Could It Be That Violence Is As Much A Part Of The American Identity As The Constitution, And A Vital Component To Its Economic Stability?

Identity

Violence

Constitution

I Can't Imagine Being Sixty Years Of Age And Playing Music I Wrote When I Was In My Twenties. I Would Rather Sail The Sea Of Consequence To New Lands. Laps Around The Shallow End Of The Pool, Not For Me.

Years

Sea

Land

Sarah Palin Embarrasses Herself Almost Immediately Upon Opening Her Mouth To Speak Or Upon Moving Her Fingers To Send Messages To Her Dull Flock.

Moving

Mouths

Dull

When I Read That Malaysia Airlines Flight Mh370 Had Disappeared - A State-of-the-art Boeing 777, Said To Be An Incredibly Safe Way To Travel - I Waited Patiently For The Chance To Learn What Happened.

Art

Safe

Boeing

When You Start To Doubt Yourself The Real World Will Eat You Alive.

Real

Doubt

Alive

The Wacken Festival Started More Than 20 Years Ago With Just A Few Hundred People In Attendance. Tickets Now Sell Out Before The Lineup Is Announced.

Years

People

Attendance

It Is Only Our Humanity That Can Deliver Us From The Brutality Of Our Achievements.

Achievement

Humanity

Brutality

I Don't Hate People - Not Remotely Other Than They Make You Crazy In Traffic, But As I Get Older I Kind Of See More And More Why People Do What They Do.

Hate

Crazy

People

I Think Young People Should Travel And Travel Often To Other Countries Like I Do.

Country

Thinking

People

My Main Goal Is To Stay Alive. To Keep Fooling Myself Into Hanging Around. To Keep Getting Up Every Day. Right Now I Live Without Inspiration. I Go Day To Day And Do The Work Because It's All I Know. I Know That If I Keep Moving I Stand A Chance. I Must Keep Myself Going Until I Find A Reason To Live. I Need One So Bad. On The Other Hand Maybe I Don't. Maybe It's All Bullshit. Nothing I Knew From My Old Life Can Help Me Here. Most Of The Things That I Believed Turned Out To Be Useless. Appendages From Someone Else's Life.

Moving

Inspiration

Hands

There's Nothing New About The Government Protecting Corporations And Calling It The Freeing Of The World Or Bringing Democracy To Bereft Nations. Nowadays, The Media Have To Be There For Them, To Keep You From Asking Too Many Questions, From Getting Together With Other People Who Might Want To Do The Jeffersonian Thing And Call Out The Government.

People

Democracy

Together

Smart People Make Good Choices. They Dig Science And Say 'no' To The Invasion Of Sovereign Nations For The Pleasure Of Corporations.

Smart

People

Choices

Michele Bachmann Is Always A Great Person To Go To For An Opinion About Anything. She Has A Very Active And Interesting Mind.

Interesting

Mind

Opinion

I'm Not Interested In Censorship. I Like The First Amendment Very Much.

Firsts

Censorship

First Amendment

August Brings Into Sharp Focus And A Furious Boil Everything I've Been Listening To In The Late Spring And Summer.

Summer

Spring

August

If You Watch A Stretch Of Tv For A Few Hours, There Is A Good Chance You'll Hear Me On Some Commercial Or In Some Documentary Or On A Cartoon As Some Voice Of A Character.

Character

Voice

Cartoon

I Am Neither Pro- Nor Anti-gun. I Am Gun-conscious.

Gun

Conscious

Anti Gun

Joe Strummer, Johnny Rotten, And Ian Mackaye Were All People Who Really Made Me See Things Differently.

People

Rotten

Johnny Rotten

For Many Years, I Tried To Make New Year's Resolutions. I Made Lists And Shot For Great Heights: I Would Show Altruism And Exert Moral Strength, Patience And All Those Other Great Attributes.

New Year

Years

Height

I Think Hip-hop Has Definitely Brought The Black Experience To White Kids More Than The Civil Rights Movement Did And More Than Any Teacher's Well-intentioned Lecture On Martin Luther King Did.

Teacher

Kings

Kids

Punk-rock Gave Music Back To People. For A Long Time, When I Was Very Young, I Went To Go See Arena Rock Bands. I Was 16 And It Was All I Could Get In To See, Legally. And I Saw Led Zeppelin And Ted Nugent And Van Halen And All That. Me And [minor Threat And Fugazi Vocalist] Ian Mackaye Would Go To These Concerts, And It Was Fun.

Fun

Rocks

Long

People Will Remember That The Tea Party Was Co-opted And Funded By Billion-dollar Corporations, And That It Was Supported By Fox News And Other Outlets With The Same Vigor With Which They Attempt To Denigrate The Occupy Protesters.

Party

People

Tea

One Of The Odd Enjoyments In Life Is To Be Alone In A Room Full Of People. To Have Them There As Unknowing Human Filler In Your Wide Shot.

People

Rooms

Life Is

I Am The Flying Saucer Man From Another World Trapped On Yours Until They Come To Rescue Me. One Day The Saucer Will Land. Jimi Hendrix And John Coltrane Will Open The Hatch And Tell Me To Get In Before Someone Tries To Blow Up The Ship. I'll Just Ask What Took Them So Long. Within Seconds We'll Be Out Of Here.

Blow

Men

Land

Knowledge Without Mileage Equals Bullshit.

Bullshit

Mileage

Imagine Someone So Infatuated By A Band That They Have Every Different Pressing Of Every Album The Band Made. Most Of The Time, The Only Difference In The Album Is The Matrix Number Or A Different 'made In' Notation On The Back Cover Or Label. This Is Enough To Make Some People Extremely Excited. Actually, Much More Than Excited.

Differences

Numbers

People

I Just Work, To The Exclusion Of Most Other Things. I Rarely Work In A Frenzied Manner, Just Kind Of - If You Take The Beater That Whips The Icing Or The Eggs Into Shape - On The Upper End Of Medium Speed, That's Kind Of How I Am About Seven Days A Week.

Eggs

Shapes

Icing

Hope Is The Last Thing A Person Does Before They Are Defeated.

Doe

Lasts

Defeat

I'm Not Like Paparazzi. I Never Force Myself On Anyone. I Always Ask, And Some Places Offer Money. And So I Try And Get These Photos To Give You, The Viewer, A Real Look At What I Was Seeing.

Real

Giving

Trying

When People Make My Country Look Bad, I Can't Stand It.

Country

People

Looks

I Have Come To The Conclusion That It's A Waste Of Time To Have Too Much Pride In Anything. Perhaps It's Good To Have A Sense Of Duty, A Jealous Zeal To Protect Or Improve, But Pride Ultimately Is Only That Which Stands Vulnerable To Offense And Degradation.

Jealous

Pride

Degradation

I Think To Write Fiction, This Is Just How I See It, You Have To Have A Powerful Need/desire To Connect. I Can't. Wanting To And Not Being Able To Has Lead To A Lot Of Misery In My Life.

Powerful

Writing

Thinking

It Is You Who Makes Me See What I Really Am.

We All Learn Lessons In Life. Some Stick, Some Don't. I Have Always Learned More From Rejection And Failure Than From Acceptance And Success.

Life Lesson

Acceptance

Rejection

Barack Obama's Administration Responded To The Haitian Crisis Within 24 Hours. Here Comes The Soldiers, Here Comes The Food, Go Go Go... Rush Limbaugh Told His Multi-millions Of Listeners That Obama Only Did That To Gain Favour With Black People In America. This Is The Kind Of Idiocy That I Have To Deal With In My Country.

Country

America

People

Sleep Is For Squares.

Sleep

Squares

It Took Me Until My Teenage Years To Realize That I Was Medicating With Music. I Was Pushing Back Against My Stupid School Uniform, Instructors Who Called Me By My Last Name And My Classmates, Who, While Friendly Enough, Were Not At All Inspiring.

Teenage

Stupid

School

Hating Someone Is Giving Them Too Much, Just Leave Them Alone.

Hate

Giving

Too Much

One Person's Roar Is Another's Whine, Just As One Person's Music Is Another's Unendurable Noise.

Noise

Unendurable

Music Is

I Am A Pretty Crazy Person, So It's Best For Me To Be On My Own Most Of The Time.

Crazy

Crazy Person

Persons

When I Was A Kid Looking At Pictures Of The Sphynx, And The Pyramids, And Different Tribes In Africa, All Of That Stuck With Me, And I Always Wanted To See Those Things And Meet Those People.

Kids

Pyramids

People

We Spend Millions Of Dollars To Remove Pain From Our Lives. It's Why So Many People Get Hooked On Painkillers. The Body Becomes Addicted To Painlessness. That Tells You A Lot.

Pain

People

Dollars

What Makes Me Uncomfortable About [barack] Obama Is What Makes Me Uncomfortable About Any Young Politician Who Has Not Yet Been Bloodied Inside The Beltway.

Politician

Young

Uncomfortable

America Was Cool With Saddam Hussein When He Was Killing Iranians.

America

Hussein

Killing

I Have To Do Things For Myself, And If Those Standards Are Set High, Then It's Up To Me To Pass Or Fail.

Failing

Standards

Ifs

I Think Marriage Is A Boring And Fault-ridden Contractual Obligation.

Thinking

Faults

Boring

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

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

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

My Optimism Wears Heavy Boots And Is Loud.

Optimistic

Optimism

Boots

Just Understand That The End Began Long Ago We Got Here Just In Time Look All The Squares In The Sidewalks Were Already There All These Strangers Have More Money Than You Do All The Good Riffs Have Been Taken And Everyone Is So Scared Murder Is Commonplace I Don't Even Flinch At The Gunshots Outside My Window I Feel Lonely Without Them

Lonely

Taken

Squares

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

Rock N' Roll Unchained A Nation And Revolutionized Radio And The Record Industry, Not To Mention The Motion Picture Business.

Rocks

Records

Radio

South Sudan Is One Of The Most Hard-put Places In The World.

World

South

Hard

I'm Not Trying To Amass People In The Streets. I Just Want Them To Be More Aware.

People

Trying

Want

I'd Like To Be A Better Writer, But I Have No Dreams To Direct Or Do A Screenplay. And I'd Love To Have A Big Starring Role In A Movie Because The Paycheck Would Be Bigger. That's The Only Reason I Do Films.

Dream

Would Be

Roles

I Don't Consider Myself An Actor, For Me It's Employment. Like The Actor Who's A Waiter A Lot, I'm An Actor When I'm Not On Tour, In That That's A Job I Can Do.

Jobs

Employment

Actors

Consumerism Is At Once The Engine Of America And Simultaneously One Of The Most Revealing Indicators Of Our Collective Shallowness.

America

Revealing

Consumerism

What You Do For Yourself Is One Thing. What You Do For Others Is Something Else Entirely.

One Thing

One Of The Nice Things About A Favorite Pop Song Is That It's An Unconditional Truce On Judgment And Musical Snobbery. You Like The Song Because You Just Do, And There Need Not Be Any Further Criticism.

Song

Nice

Musical

I Have Been An Xl Fan Of Devo Since I Was In High School In The 1970s. Their Records Only Sound Better With Time.

School

Sound

Fans

If I Was Gay, There’d Be No Closet. You’d Never See The Closet I Came Out Of. Why? I Would Have Burned It For Kindling By The Time I Was Twelve! Because I Know, With All Certainty In My Mind, There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Gay And You Know It! And There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Into Chicks If You’re A Girl. And There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Into All Of It…. How Awesome Would It Be To Be Bisexual? To Just Walk Into A Room And Go ‘mmmm, Alright!!!!’

Girl

Gay

Bisexual

Spending Time In Calcutta [india] Really Did A Number On Me. The Way Life And Death Are Almost The Same Thing, The Way Poverty Is Dealt With, The Sheer Number Of Dead Bodies You See, It's All Pretty Overwhelming.

Numbers

Life And Death

Way

I Live My Life Through The Prism Of Capitalism And Physiological Limits And Eventualities.

Limits

Living My Life

Prisms

If I Hear, 'be Afraid Of Tehran,' I'm Like, 'i'd Better Go To Tehran.'

Tehran

Ifs

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.

People

Gone

Kind

I Am Always Interested In An Opportunity To Learn Something.

Opportunity

Opportunities To Learn

Where There Is Young People And Vitality, You're Going To Find Punk Rock.

Rocks

People

Vitality

I Think The Most "passionate" I Get About Actual Humans Are The Ones I Want To Kill.

Thinking

Passionate

Want

Am I Self-righteous? Why Not? It's Not Like I Can Count On You To Be Righteous For Me.

Self

Alcohol

Why Not

Don't Go To Summer Camp. Bury Your Parents In The Backyard And Have The Place To Yourself.

Summer

Parent

Independence

Questioning Anything And Everything, To Me, Is Punk Rock.

Rocks

Anything And Everything

Punk

When You're Kept Out Of The Adult World, It's A Blessing In Disguise.

Blessing

Adults

World

Look, It's A Monster. He's Walking Alone. Look, He's Pulling Something Out Of His Pocket. He Threw It On The Ground. Let's Go See What It Is. It's A Black Box. You Open It... Ok... Look, It's Sorrow, Misery And Pain. It's Loneliness And Longing. Boy, He'll Be Sorry He Lost These.

Sorry

Pain

Loneliness

Fish Is The Only Kind Of Respirating Thing That I Consume. Everything Else I Don't Want Any Part Of.

Want

Kind

Fishes

I Just Travel The World With My Backpack And My Cameras And A Bunch Of Clif Bars.

Travel

Cameras

Bars

I Slept In Uday Hussein's Bed - That Was Just So Strange. Went To Saddam's Palace, Was In A Mortar Attack - Crazy Stuff. And Like Three Days Later You're Back In Traffic On Sunset Boulevard. It's All Kind Of Behind You, Which Is Kind Of Perfect For A Guy Like Me Because I Can Take That And Turn It Into Quite The Tale.

Crazy

Sunset

Perfect

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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Stephanie Pearl-McPhee