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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.

-Henry Rollins

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Spending Time In Calcutta

Henry Rollins

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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.

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We Occupy The Planet With A Vengeance. We Seek To Dominate It.

I Don't Have Many Friends So The Phone Doesn't Ring And No One's Asking Me To Go Out And Go Dancing With Them.

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.

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

I'll Be Here Tomorrow If I Can Make It Through Today.

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.

I Don't Want To Fail The Audience. I Don't Want To Let Them Down.

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.

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.

Scar Tissue Is Stronger Than Regular Tissue. Realize The Strength, Move On.

Contemporary Bands Often Will Do Tour-only Releases Pressed And Sold Only In Australia. Crikey!

Technically Speaking, There Is No Music Whatsoever On A Cd. Lots Of Information, But No Music.

Airports In Major Cities, Like Lax, Are Trippy Environments. It Is At Once A National And International Gathering Of Those In Transition: The Euphoric, Emerging From Planes, Their Journey At An End, And The Determined, About To Depart.

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

As Performers Grow Older, I Reckon There Are Two Ways They Can Go. They Can Either Be Up There, Playing More Deeply From Their Guts Than Ever, Or They Can Be Phoning It In So Crassly That It Leaves A Lump In Your Throat As You Leave The Venue At The End Of The Show.

It's Hard For Me To Sympathize With A Young Person Who Chooses To Go Into The Military Because They Know Where They're Going. I Think We Need To Start Depopulating The Military.

In The Late Summer Of 1986, The Band I Had Been In For Five Years Stopped Playing. Suddenly, I Was On My Own. This New State Of Bandlessness Was, At First, Traumatic. When Your Group Breaks Up, A Lot Of Broken Parts Hit The Ground.

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.

I Write What I Can. I Think Being Able To Write Like Michael Connelly And Have A Character That Goes From Novel To Novel, Or To Dramatize History Like Vidal Or Ellroy, Or Have An Explosively Inventive Mind Like Bulgakov, Would Be An Incredible Thing. I Don't Have That. I Only Have What I Have.

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'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.

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

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.

Whenever Any Great Song Or Album Gets Lost In The Ether, Someone Is Deprived Of The Joy Of Hearing It, And The Great Effort Of Those Who Created And Recorded The Work Is Damaged.

Whether I Will Be Remembered At All, I Really Don't Get To Choose, Unless I Shoot Someone Famous. It's Not Really Anything I Have Much Control Over.

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

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.

I Do My Best To Limit The Amount Of Compromise In My Life So I Have More Time To Do What I Want. Not Hanging Out With Many People Really Helps. I Am Not A People Person And I Spend A Great Deal Of Time On My Own And In This Environment, I Get A Lot Done.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When I Think Of Mick Jagger Still Singing That He Can't Get Any Satisfaction In Over Forty Years Of Being In The Rolling Stones, I Have To Conclude That He's Either Lying Or Not All That Bright.

I Am Always Interested In An Opportunity To Learn Something.

Opportunities To Learn

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.

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In The Summer Of '84, You Just Couldn't Escape The Born In The Usa Record.

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I Recycle And Try To Be Nice To The Earth. But Flora And Fauna Have Always Interested Me, And It Is Because Of So Many Years Of Summer Camp And Growing Up In Dc With Rock Creek Park Fairly Near Me, Or Glover Park; I Lived In Glover Park For A While And That Park Was In My Backyard.

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You Must Never Lower Yourself To Being A Person You Don't Like.

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

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If You're Crazy Enough To Put Your Hat Into The Ring Of Speculation And Punditry, You're Going To Get Some Turbulence. But If It's Coming From Some Journalist With A Comfortable Degree Of Body Fat, I'm Not Losing Any Sleep Over It.

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I Didn't Want To Work At Pizza Hut And I Didn't Want To Join The Army. So I Just Decided To Go Out And Be Awesome.

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A Text Conversation Is A Short Exchange Of Often Grossly Truncated Language That Corresponds To A Thought Made All The More Shallow By The Process.

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The Scars Will Take Me Far, They Always Do.

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I Think I Am The Most Impressed With Writing Styles That Defy Category, Like Kharms Or Selby, Breton Or Jarry, Where You Become As Interested In The Writer As Much As The Writing Itself. It's All These Things That Make Reading So Appealing To Me.

Shirley Sherrod Seems Like A Good And Dedicated Person.

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I Have Lived In Public As A Somewhat Recognizable Person Since I Was A Teenager. Emails I Answer End Up Posted On Sites; Pictures Of Me And Someone I Just Met, Taken By A Cellphone, Literally Number In The Thousands And Are Easily Accessed.

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Texas Is As Odd As It Is Vast.

I Feel Like A Visitor That Got Left Behind By His Ride.

The Best Revenge Is To Always Survive Yourself.

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.'

If I Had To Perform In A Comedy Club I Would Bomb; I Would Be Trying Too Hard.

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I Consider Any Gun That Can Chamber A Round And Send A Projectile Down Its Barrel At A High Rate Of Speed Into My Body - Causing Me Injury Or Death - To Be An Assault Weapon.

Assault Weapons

I Spend Several Days At A Time Without Enough Sleep. At First, Normal Activities Become Annoying. When You Are Too Tired To Eat, You Really Need Some Sleep. A Few Days Later, Things Become Strange. Loud Noises Become Louder And More Startling, Familiar Sounds Become Unfamiliar, And Life Reinvents Itself As A Surrealist Dream.

I Contribute A Large Amount Of Money To The Southern Poverty Law Center, So I'm On Their Mailing List For All Their Klan Watch Newsletters. I'm Very Well Aware Of White Power Movements In America.

Most Of The People Who Call Me A Sellout Were 7 When I Was Down Face-first In The Punk Trenches.

Here In This Moment We Are Beautiful, Nocturnal Creatures And Our Thoughts And Words Are Jewels Guarded By The Moon.

It Is Instilled In Thousands Of American Males From An Early Age That One Of Their Requirements Is To Be Able To Both Dish Out And Take A Lot Of Pain. They Are Taught The Rules Of This Road In Gyms, Rings, Backyards And Fields All Over America.

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

I'm Not Artistic Nor Am I All That Creative.

Being Unique Is Never Easy, And Often, By The Time Culture Catches Up With You, There Are Only A Few People Who Notice.

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.'

You Can Still Function As A Living Ruin.

I Don't Mind Bees And Think We Are All The Better For Having Them Around. I Like The Taste Of Honey.

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.

Young, Gay And Stuck In Arkansas? Sounds Like A Horror Flick.

Quite Often Governments Are One Way And The People Are Another.

I Simply Cannot Understand How Any Parent Could Kill Themselves.

I Have Been Curious About Haiti For Many Years. The History Of The Country Is As Fascinating As It Is Turbulent.

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

I Forged Myself Out Of A Vacuum. I Crawl Along The Highway On Hacked Off Stumps Year After Year. Some Wonder How And Why. I Never Do.

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.

I Can Say That American Men And Women In The Military Are Damn Impressive.

People Are Best On Records And Books Because You Can Turn Them Off Or Put Them Back On The Shelf.

It's Good To Be Able To Deal With It [anger] Somehow Other Than Drinking, Fighting, Crashing Cars, Hitting Your Kid, Your Wife, Your Husband, Your Whatever. Paintbrushes, Pens, Movie Cameras, Guitars, Microphones, Typewriters -- These Are Good Things. Weights. These Are Positive Ways, Good Ways To Deal With Anger, Frustration, Alienation, Rage. 'cause All The Other Ways Do Nothing But Hurt People.

For Me, Music Was An Age/time/place Thing. One Day I Woke Up And Realized I Was Done. That Was Many Years Ago.

We Are Misery-making Machines! Homo Sapiens Has Perfected The Art Of Causing Suffering. Pain Is Humankind's Collective Gdp.

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.

Desperation Is The Secret To My Steady Employment. I Am Not Interested In Downtime. I Really Like To Keep Working All The Time And I Always Feel Like I'm In The Mail Room Of Life; Working Up.

Break From Self Rejection, Try Some Introspection.

I Don't Want To Play Old Music. To Me, It Is Fighting Battles That Are Already Over And Calling Yourself A Warrior. For Me, I See No Courage Or Adventure In Doing The Old Thing Over Again. If Others Want To, That's For Them. For Myself, I Have To Move On. Life Is Too Short To Live In The Past. There Is A Lot To Be Done.

Life Is Too Short

The Talking Shows Allow Me To Come Out Of My Cave And That's Why Those Shows Go On For So Long. I Hate Walking Off Stage. Sometimes I Walk Off And I Miss Them As I'm Walking Off The Stage. I Wonder If They'll Let Me Go Another Hour. That's Why I Do It: To Communicate, To Get Points Across.

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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.

If You Listen To 'the Revolution Will Not Be Televised,' By Gil Scott-heron, That Album Is Dripping With Rage.

I Live My Life By The Numbers. Not Only Am I An American, I Am An Americanist.

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.

So, One Way Or Another, I Found Myself In A Few Movies. I Take It Seriously When I'm On The Set, But I Don't Take Myself Seriously As An Actor.

I Think That America Certainly Has Racism, I Think That Any Industrialized Country Does. But When You See How Many Million Fans Barack Obama Has Who Are Not Black, It Would Lead One To The Conclusion That Millions Of Americans Are In Fact Not Burdened By The Albatross Of Racism.

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.

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

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.

If An American Company Has A Drop Of Patriotic Blood Coursing Through Its System, Then Surely It Would Set Up In America And Employ Americans, Right?

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.

Live Music Is The Cure For What Ails Ya.

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.

Bands Have Always Written Songs Against What They See As Wrong. Ronald Reagan Really Made For A Lot Of Songs.

The Government Is A Functionary Of The Corporations - And There's Nothing New About That. You Can Find People In The 1930s Talking About The Army Basically Working For Wall Street In All Of These Countries [it Invades].

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

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.

When You Title Yourself, You Immediately Lend Yourself To All Kinds Of Pretension

A Rose Trapped Inside A Fist.

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."

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.

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

Put Temptation On The Unenjoyment Line.

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.

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

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.

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

I Have Always Maintained That Iggy Pop Is The Heavyweight Champion Of Rock & Roll.

I Get Tired Of Talking When I Want To Be Silent.

When The Movie Comes Out, What Anybody Thinks Of It Doesn't Really Matter To Me. I Don't Go To The Wrap Party. I Don't Go To The Premiere.

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.

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

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Lois McMaster Bujold

George F. Kennan

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