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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.

-Henry Rollins

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I Think It's Very

Henry Rollins

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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.

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

Your Commander Would Never Lie To You. That's The Vice President's Job.

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

Americans Are Poorly Served By Their Media, You Know, For The War Machine And Propaganda Machine And The Global Empire And They're Poorly Served By What They Are Being Told Is Representative Government.

Stockholders Are Used To A Certain Kind Of Global Capitalism. This Version Is Very Hard On The Environment And Very Hard On People Below A Certain Fiscal Level. It Is A Calculated, Systematic Weakening Of People. Many Labour, A Few Benefit. Try Talking About Cleaning Up The Place With These People. The Hostility Is Incredible.

Thank You For Touching Me. Some Of The Only Moments Worth Living Were Spent With You. Not You Especially, The Collective You.

No Time For Drug Addiction, No Time For Smoke Or Booze. Too Strong For A Shortened Life Span, I've Got No Time To Lose.

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.

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

I Urge You To Read The Occupy Manifesto, Written By The New York City General Assembly. It Is Unavoidably Clear. This Is Not Directionless Action. If It Were, The Media Would Have Moved On.

I'd Like To Talk To Sean Hannity In A Controlled Environment And Say, 'o.k., You Can't Interrupt And Jump Up And Down Like A Professional Wrestler.'

You Can Pass All The Gun Legislation You Want. None Of It Will Make Me Feel Any More Or Less Safe Than I Do Right At This Moment.

I Will Take The Acting Work When I Can Get It. I Am Not Really An Actor, That's Always Apparent But It's Work And I'll Take It And Am Always Glad For It.

We Humans Are Hard To Deal With. We Are A Loud, Complex And Demanding Bunch. Often, We Are Best Dealt With From A Safe Distance And For Only Brief Periods Of Time. This Could Be Why A Lot Of Marriages Fail.

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

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.

I Like Boring Black And White Films With Subtitles. I'm Basically A Drip.

Black And White

If A Slave Were To Raise His Voice To His Master, He Risked All Manner Of Punishment. Yet What Was Possible In Many Circumstances Was To Lift One's Voice In Song. This Was A Major Ingredient In What Is Now Known As Blues And Gospel. Slaves May Have Been Regarded As Subhuman By Their Cruel Captors, But Through Music, They Were Proud And Dignified.

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.

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.

I Take The Work Seriously, Just Not Myself In It.

Certainly, There Are Huge, Multiplatinum Bands Whose Singers Command Their Audience's Attention. Sadly, Much Of The Time They Have Little To Say.

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

When She Comes She Pulls You Close She Breathes In Short Bursts Her Eyes Close Her Head Tilts Back Her Mouth Opens Slightly Her Thighs Turn To Steel, And Then Melt She Is Perfect And You Feel Like You Are Everything.

I Am Too Far Gone To Be Rehabilitated.

No Matter How Rough Things Can Be At Times, Many Americans Are Optimistic And On The Move.

Here You Can Be A Billionaire, Like Mark Zuckerberg Rich, But You Are Going To Die And You Are Here For A While And Ultimately All Of Your Stuff Is Kind Of Like A Rental.

After I Left D.c. To Join Black Flag, I Felt I Was In A Band.

I've Never Been In A Situation Where I Had To Run For My Life, But I've Been Bitten By A Lot Of Poisonous Snakes Where It Was Fairly Painful. Pythons Of Size Have A Lot Of Teeth In That Mouth, It's A Painful Bite And Those Wounds Get Infected Fairly Easily. I've Got Snake Wounds From These Animals That Have Lasted Quite A While Where It'll Ache For Several Days. Having Said That, I've Been Lucky; It's Not Like I'm Looking For Trouble With These Animals Either. It's Not An Envelope I'm Willing To Push.

Some Soldier Will Say, 'you Know, Sir, You And I Have Some Political Disagreements, But I'm Glad You Came All The Way Out Here.' And You Know, You Say, 'well, Maybe One Day You'll See The Light But I'm Glad To Be Out Here With You.'

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.

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.

August, The Summer's Last Messenger Of Misery, Is A Hollow Actor.

In Blues Music, There's A Lot Of Borrowing, So It's Often Difficult To Identify The Originator Of A Song.

America Has 2.2 Million Of It's Citizens Incarcerated. It's A Statistic We Should Be Ashamed Of.

I Read A Bit Of Ray Bradbury When I Was A Younger Man. I Don't Read A Lot Of Fiction Anymore... Like, None.

But Can A Song Stop A War? If Bob Marley And Bob Dylan Couldn't Do It, It Can't Be Done.

The Only Difference Between Me And Others Is That They Think They Can Change Something With Cute Little Poems, Nice Cards Or Embracing Trees And Being Nice To Little Lapdogs.

As Miserable As Life May Be I Hold It Pretty Precious

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

I'm Not Into Fame. I'm Not Into Making Money, Outside Of Financing My Books. I'm Not Into Status. My Thing Is Basically About Time - Not Wasting It.

If You Have An Idea Of What You Want To Do In Your Future, You Must Go At It With Almost Monastic Obsession. [...] You Have To Go At It Single-mindedly And Let Nothing Get In Your Way.

I Don't Know How Much You Follow Current Events. For Some, There's Not Enough Time To Keep Up On What's Happening; For Others, The News Is Too Depressing, And Peering Too Deeply Fills One With Boiling Frustration All Too Quickly.

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.

But I Have A Good Life. I Enjoy What I Do. I Am Married To Work.

It Is Impossible, After A Certain Point, To Go Back To A Previous Way Of Life, A Previous Way Of Thinking.

As You Do With Any Band You're In, You Get To Know Everyone Too Well All Too Soon. When You're Crammed Into A Small Space, Proximity Leads To Familiarity.

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.

I'm 36 And If I Met A Woman Of My Own Age And Married Her, I'd Also Be Marrying Her Former Life, Her Past. It Might Be Ok For Some People - I Don't Want To Judge It Or Anything - But It's Not For Me. It Would Destroy My Creativity.

The Iron Is The Best Antidepressant I Have Ever Found.

Lifting Weights

You Have To Realize There Are Other People, Other Economies, Governments, Cultures, Religions, And Destinies Going On At The Same Time As Yours. You Have To Widen The Scope Of Your Lens And Start Seeing More.

Culture Religion

I Think As Resources Become More Dear, We Really Need To Consider Population.

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.

I've Never Killed Anybody... But I've Definitely Thought About It. But That's How We Are. That's What Happens When You Put People Together And Put Them Into Societies And Cultures And Have Laws And The Idea Of Justice.

Bono Actually Gets A Lot Of Substantial Work Done. The Guy Really Does Put A Lot Of Things Together And, While I'm Not A Fan Of His Music, I Greatly Applaud His Humanitarian Efforts.

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."

You Know, We Are One Nation Under A God. Yes, You Were Right. An Angry, Crack Slinging God Who Decorates With Bullets And Spent Condoms.

From Those Who Agonize That They May No Longer Be Able To Write Off Their Private Jet To Someone Who Doesn't Feel Like Making The Three Mile Hike To The Well To Get Water And Carry It Back, Everyone Struggles.

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We Americans Are Hard On Almost Everything. We Are Hard On Our Vehicles, Our Marriages And Our Heroes. Mostly, However, We Are Hard On Ourselves.

One Of The Most Prevalent And Undermentioned Genres Of Music Is What Is Known As Noise. You Can Find It All Over The World Happening In Basements, Small Venues And Even Some Festivals. Often Blown Off Or Belittled By Critics, The Form For The Most Part Goes Unheard And Unnoticed.

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

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

No Magic. I Do Believe You Might Have Taken It All With You When You Went Away.

I Love To Go On Stage And Sing.

If You Paid Americans A Living Wage, They Would Be Able To Pay For Products Made By Americans In America.

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.

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.

More And More, Journalism Seems To Have Hopped Out Of Truth's Pocket And Crept Into Another.

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.

It's Hard To Keep Your Backbone Straight In America. It's Easy To Turn Into That Which You Hate, And To Get Smashed.

Collecting Records Is, For Many, Beyond A Hobby.

We Know That In September, We Will Wander Through The Warm Winds Of Summer's Wreckage. We Will Welcome Summer's Ghost.

I've Always Seen It As The Role Of An Artist To Drag His Inside Out, Give The Audience All You've Got. Writers, Actors, Singers, All Good Artists Do The Same. It Isn't Supposed To Be Easy.

If The Truth Is Told How I Want To Be Remembered... As Someone Who Cared. Someone Who Worked Really Hard And Someone Who Didn't Sit Around.

You Can Still Function As A Living Ruin.

When Someone Asks You, 'what's Punk?' My Reply Is, 'if You Have To Ask, You're Never Going To Know.'

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

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.

I Don't Need To Have My Convictions Confirmed By A Show Of Numbers. However, Being Among People In Front Of A Band Leads Me To Believe That All Is Not Lost, That Humans, Now And Then, Can Communicate On A Higher Level Than The Political And The Practical.

I Try To Be Well Informed. I Don't Know How Well I Do All The Time, But I Try Nonetheless.

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.

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.

I Want A Soul Mate Who Can Sit Me Down, Shut Me Up, Tell Me Ten Things I Don’t Already Know, And Make Me Laugh. I Don’t Care What You Look Like, Just Turn Me On. And If You Can Do That, I Will Follow You On Bloody Stumps Through The Snow. I Will Nibble Your Mukluks With My Own Teeth. I Will Do Your Windows. I Will Care About Your Feelings. Just Have Something In There.

I'm Most Comfortable On Stage.

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.

Marriage Equality Is A Term So Ridiculous On Its Face That When You Hear It Mentioned, You Would Think You Were In Riyadh. Years From Now, Perhaps We Can Lose The Equality Part, The Same-sex Part And Call It What It Is - Marriage.

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.

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

We Came To The End, We Found Nothing. Nothing!!! And We Cursed Because We Were Hoping For So Much Less.

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.

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

Live Music Is The Cure For What Ails Ya.

The Truth Is An Anti-war Statement In Itself.

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

I Think Self-reliance And Self-responsibility And Self-accountability Will Help You As A Parent, A Teacher, As A Citizen As A Friend.

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.

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

Respect Is Not A One Way Street

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.

I Wouldn't Want To Roll The Dice On Kabul By Myself, Because I Really Think Getting Killed Is Definitely A Possibility There. A Very Good Possibility.

Put Temptation On The Unenjoyment Line.

I Really Enjoy The Lattitude I Have With Being A Private Citizen. I Can Get A Lot Done. I Am Good With That.

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.'

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

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.

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.

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

You Don't Have To Twist My Arm To Work.

'duck Dynasty' Is A Ridiculous Show, And Long May It Wave. America And Democracy Will Endure. They've Seen A Lot Worse.

The World’s A Better Place Since I Chose Music. I Like The Physical Aspect Of It, The Volume And The Intensity Of It. It’s Loud And Hard. I Like All That Because Inside Me I Feel Like Screaming.

Sometimes The Truth Hurts. And Sometimes It Feels Real Good.

Think About It: No Matter Who You Are, The Past Plays A Large Part In Your Life. I Am All About Living In The Present As Best As I Can. Try As I Might, There Is Only So Much I Am Able To Achieve On This Front.

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

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.

It's So Painful To Be Next To Someone You Feel Strongly About And Know You Can't Say The Things You Want To.

That Newt Gingrich Or Any Mainstream Republican Has The Nerve To Look Down From What They Perceive As Their Moral Mountaintop At Anyone Is Laughable.

I'm Of The Opinion That The Democrats Have The Ideas I Agree With More Often Than Not. Reenergizing The Middle Class And Giving People A Break.

You Might As Well Enjoy The Day - You Never Know When And How Painfully It Could All End.

Most Of The Writers I Like Just Intimidate And Humble Me But In That There's A Good Deal Of Inspiration To Be Had As Well.

If You Are A Kid In Beverly Hills, (i Am Not Putting Down People Who Live In Beverly Hills) If That Kid Knows Private School And A Credit Card... You Can't Say The Kid Is Taking Life For Granted. He Is Taking The Life That Was Given To Him.

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.

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

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.

Retirement In Another Country Is Your Body Is Too Racked With Pain And Your Hands Are Too Arthritic From The Life In The Rice Patty Fields, So You Can't Work Anymore.

Somewhere Someone Is Thinking Of You. Someone Is Calling You An Angel. This Person Is Using Celestial Colors To Paint Your Image. Someone Is Making You Into A Vision So Beautiful That It Can Only Live In The Mind.

Thinking Of You

You Can't Get Your Head Around Something If You're Yelling.

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

I Think In Rural Settings, People Have A Different Appreciation For Animals Than Might The City Dweller. In Parts Of India Where Poisonous Snake Bite Is Common, People Have A Much Different Value System. I Live In A City. I'm Not Thinking About Wolves, Lions, Etc.

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

When People Hold You In High Esteem, It's Very Delicate Relationship. When They Meet You They're Putting All Their Chips Up. It's Make Or Break.

Somewhere, Someone Isn’t Impressed By Your Looks. Not All Men Jump Through The Hoops Of Your Fire. You’re Unbelievably Boring To More People Than You’ll Ever Know.

Rarely Do I Do Film Press Because I'm So Low On The Food Chain Of The Movie, And For Me It's Just This Thing I Did For Four Weeks Before The Next Tour Started.

Now You See How You Are, The Wisdom Mixed In With All The Scars.

Its No Surprise To Me That Anyone Hardly Tells The Truth About How They Feel. The Smart Ones Keep To Themselves For Good Reason. Why Would You Want To Tell Anyone Anything That's Dear To You? Even When You Like Them And Want Nothing More Than To Be Closer To Them? It's So Painful To Be Next To Someone You Feel So Strongly About And Know You Can't Say The Things You Want To.

I Don't Know If Music Has Ever Achieved Anything Past Appealing To The People That It Appeals To. If A Song Could Stop A War, Then Bob Marley And Bob Dylan Songs Would Have Stopped One Or Two.

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.

Creating Problems Is Easy. We Do It All The Time. Finding Solutions, Ones That Last And Produce Good Results, Requires Guts And Care.

It Has Been Hard To Get My Head Around How Justice Antonin Scalia Rationalizes His Decisions. His Body Blow To The Voting Rights Act Was A Head Scratcher, But At Least He Was Calm When He Attempted To Justify His Odd Logic.

I Find It Takes A Lot Of Strength To Endure Myself.

As Far As Poetry, I Don't Know If I've Ever Written Any. I've Read A Lot. I Just Write And It Comes Out In Different Forms And Shapes. I Don't Know If I'm Any Good At It I Just Really Go For It And I'm Very Prolific Book Wise Only Because I Own The Company. No One Tells Me 'no' Around Here.

The Average Is The Borderline That Keeps Mere Men In Their Place. Those Who Step Over The Line Are Heroes By The Very Act. Go.

I Want You Bad Like A Natural Disaster. You Are All I See. You Are The Only One I Want To Know.

Weakness Is What Brings Ignorance, Cheapness, Racism, Homophobia, Desperation, Cruelty, Brutality, All These Things That Will Keep A Society Chained To The Ground, One Foot Nailed To The Floor.

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

I Think The U.k. Is An Amazing Place And Has Been Extremely Good To Me. Some Of My Favorite And Most-listened-to Bands Are From England. I Have Met Many Good People There And Have Been In Front Of Some Of The Most Loyal Audiences I Have Ever Encountered.

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.

As A Young Person Growing Up In Washington, D.c., Summers Were Hot, Humid And Relentless. My Friends And I Grew More Restless And Adventurous With Every Passing Year.

As A Young Person, I Wanted Everyone To Agree With Me.

I Wonder How Colin Powell Sleeps At Night. I Would Like To Have A Word With Him Because He Lied. He Lied. He Lied To Me. He Lied To My Face Through The Camera At The U.n.

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.

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.

When Black Flag And Doa And All Those Bands Were Touring In The Early 80s, It Was Kind Of A Forest And You Just Kind Of Got Your Way Through It. Now It's Like A Six Lane Highway With Starbucks Every Twenty Meters. That's Just Civilization.

I Am The Assasin Of My Dreams.

Low Self Esteem

I Always Start Tours With A Great Deal Of Anticipation.

Motivation Has Always Been A Fascinating Factor When Considering A Touring Artist, Especially When The Years Stack Up. What Keeps One Out There Year After Year?

Luckily For Me, I Genuinely Like My Audience. They Really Are A Good Bunch.

I Once Asked Ozzy Osbourne, Truly One Of My Favorite People In The World, If He Was Cool With Singing Black Sabbath Songs Year After Year, Whether He Was Performing With Black Sabbath Or Out On A Solo Tour. He Said It Was Great.

The Fact Is, In The Minds Of Many, Trayvon Martin Received The Appropriate Punishment For A True Crime: He Was Black, Male And Dared To Walk Outside. In Life, Young Trayvon Was Just A Teenager; In Death, He Has Been Transformed Into A Scary, Lurking, Suspicious, Prone-to-violence Spook.

Youths Write Me And Tell Me That Their Band Will Go Nowhere Because Of All The Bad Bands In The World. I Tell Them There Has Always Been Awful Music And That No Great Band Ever Wasted Any Time Complaining, They Just Got It Done. Their Ropey Ranting Is Just A Way To Get Out Of The Hard Work Of Making Music That Will Do Some Lasting Damage.

I Try To Get Myself Up And Moving As Early As Possible. Optimum Is To Be On The Treadmill While It Is Still Dark Outside.

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

What I've Found Is That A Lot Of Soldiers Are Surprisingly Apolitical. Their Reality Is, "today I'm Going To Leave The Gate For Twelve Hours, And I'm Going To Make It Back To The Dining Facility By Sundown With The Arms And Legs Of Me And My Buddies Intact."

I Don't Mean To Be Arrogant And I Really Appreciate My Fans But Talking About What I Am Doing Is Not Something I'm Good At. I Do What I Do And That's It. I Want To Get Back To My Work And Do More Of It Instead Of Talking About It.

I Beg Young People To Travel. If You Don't Have A Passport, Get One. Take A Summer, Get A Backpack And Go To Delhi, Go To Saigon, Go To Bangkok, Go To Kenya. Have Your Mind Blown. Eat Interesting Food. Dig Some Interesting People. Have An Adventure. Be Careful. Come Back And You're Going To See Your Country Differently, You're Going To See Your President Differently, No Matter Who It Is. Music, Culture, Food, Water. Your Showers Will Become Shorter. You're Going To Get A Sense Of What Globalization Looks Like.

That's The Only Interaction I Have With People, Those Talking Shows. Most Of The People In My Phone Book Are Artists, Management, Producers, Engineers. I Don't Ever Call People With, "hi! How Are You?" I Say, "how Are You? Do You Have That 16/30 Ready? When Do You Want Me To Come Into The Studio?" That's What I Do.

Music Files And Downloading Have Indeed Changed The Currency Of Music To A Great Degree.

It's Easy For Me To Play Bad Guys Because It's A Very Linear Acting. Bad Guys Aren't Empathetic. Being A Bad Guy Is Great Because You're Not Friendly And You Don't Have To Do Much With Your Face.

There Are Religions And Social And Moral Awareness In Any Society That Gets Passed Immediately. Those Human Truths. All Cultures Address Them.

People Look At Things Differently. Imagine Going To A Village In Southern Sudan And Try To Explain To Someone There The Concept Of Life Insurance Or Retirement. Go To Vietnam And Say Retirement. Retirement In Another Country Is Your Body Is Too Racked With Pain And Your Hands Are Too Arthritic From The Life In The Rice Patty Fields, So You Can't Work Anymore. So You Move In With Your Son And His New Wife Takes Care Of You Because That's How Families Work There.

I Always Took Quite Seriously The Things That Chuck D. Of Public Enemy Had To Say. He's Always Been Someone I've Learned Quite A Bit From And Someone I Pay A Great Deal Of Attention To.

A Rose Trapped Inside A Fist.

Enough Americans Saw Fit To Give President Obama A Second Term. I Don't Think There Will Be Many People Keeping Their Romney/ryan Bumper Stickers On Their Cars.

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.

All Of The Things That The Bible Warns You Of Being: Jealous, Covetous, Murderous, Selfish, Etc., That's Kind Of How Humans Are.

Why Let Your Fury Lay Deep Inside You, Sullenly Boiling Your Blood Into Silent Steam And Griding Your Bones To Dust? I It Not Better To Thrust It Out With Great Velocity From Every Pore, With Your Every Action? Let Your Actions Speak Your Legend. The Physical Is The Manifestation Of The Spirit. Let Your Spirit Be Teeming With Fury. Let Your Strength Be Unusual And Controlled. The Average Is The Borderline That Keeps Mere Men In Their Place. Those Who Step Over The Line Are Heroes By The Very Act. Go.

My Mother, A Very Eclectic Listener, Had The First Doors Album And Gave It To Me When I Expressed Interest In The Band. It Was One Of The First Records I Ever Had. As The Years Passed, The Babysitters Who Used To Look After Me Would Bring Their Doors Albums To The Apartment, And That's How I Got To Hear Their Later Work.

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.

The Tasks I Set Out For Myself Are What I Do To Beat The Perfect Pointlessness Of Life.

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.

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.

The Only Thing Worse Than The Pastor Terry Jones Scheduled Koran Burning Is The Fact That He Canceled The Proposed Event.

More Than 30 Years Ago, In Washington, D.c., I Secured A Copy Of A Single By A Los Angeles Band Called The Bags. The Two-song 7-inch, Released On Dangerhouse, Had A Girl On The Cover Who Looked Right At You With Huge Eyes. The Songs, 'survive' And 'babylonian Gorgon,' Were Great And Made Many Of My Mix Tapes.

People Who Keep A Large Snake In Their Apartment Building, Which Happens Quite A Bit, All Of A Sudden, Within Two Summers, Have A 14-foot Animal That's Eating Adult Rabbits, And Needs Quite A Bit Of Room And Quite A Bit Of Heat. That's The Animal That Gets Put In The Back Of A Pick-up Truck And Dumped Into The Florida Everglades Or The City Lake, Or Just Left On A Doorstep - Again, It's Quite Often The Animal That Suffers.

Every Summer, Around Late July And Into August, I Find Myself In Europe, Performing At Any Festival That Will Have Me.

I Can Die Anytime I Want. I Wish I Could Do The Same With Life.

Nothing Brings People Together More, Than Mutual Hatred.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I Just Want To Be Able To Stand Up Straight For A Little While Before I Get Cut Down.

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.

I Am Very Ambitious In A Way, In That I'm Not Trying To Be The Richest Guy Or Whatever. I Just Really Like My Work.

In Israel, There's A Lot To Learn From Anyone, Because To Live There You've Got To Deal With The Truth. Things Happen Real Fast. Your Day Goes From Cool To Catastrophic In One Second. Israelis Know That The Cafe You're In Could Blow Up, Or The Shopping Mall, And They Rock That.

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.

I've Made Some Great Mistakes In My Life, But, You Know, They Were Honest Mistakes.

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.

Always Knowing You're Going To Die And Until Then Knowing You've Got To Live.

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