The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time.

Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.

Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that's printed about him.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

Let silence be the art you practice.

Comedy is the blues for people who can?t sing.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I can't help it.

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

We're not trying to change the world; just music.

I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.

Every work of art is an uncommitted crime.

Art not only imitates nature, but also completes its deficiencies.

Artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs.

Play it fuckin' loud!

Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

The spoken form is in fact a very restrained representation of what is possible in the musical language.