Neil Peart Quotes
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You can surrenderWithout a prayerBut never really prayPray without surrenderYou can fightWithout ever winningBut never ever winWithout a fight - Resist (1996)
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To me, drum soloing is like doing a marathon and solving equations at the same time.
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Lotus-land as it appears in 'Free Will' is simply a metaphor for an idealized background, a 'land of milk and honey.' It is sometimes also used as a pejorative name for Los Angeles, though that was not in my mind when I wrote it.
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Courageous convictions will drag the dream into existence.
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Extroverts never understand introverts, and it was like that in school days.
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More a paraphrase than a quote, really, but it comes from a prayer which was stitched into a sampler above my grandmother's bed. It began like this: 'Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep...'
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The middle aged madonnacalls her neighbor on the phone.Day by day, the seasons passand leave her life alone.But she'll go walking out that dooron some bright afternoonto go and paint big citiesfrom a lonely attic room. - Middletown Dreams (1985)
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Now there's no more oak oppressionFor they passed a noble lawAnd the trees are all kept equalBy hatchet, axe and saw - The Trees (1978)
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There's no bread, let 'em eat cakeThere's no end to what they'll takeFlaunt the fruits of noble birthWash the salt into the earth - Bastille Day (1975)
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To you, is it movement, or is it action?Is it contact or just reaction?And you, revolution, just resistance?Is it living, or just existence? - The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)
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Today is different, and tomorrow the same.It's hard to take the world the way that it came.Too many rapids keep us sweeping along.Too many captains keep on steering us wrong.It's hard to take the heat.It's hard to lay blame.To fight the fire, while we're feeding the flames. - Second Nature (1987)
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Like a steely blade in a silken sheathWe don't see what they're made ofThey shout about love, but when push comes to shoveThey live for the things they're afraid ofAnd the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them...- The Weapon (Part II of 'Fear') (1982)
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Howard Roark stood as a role model for me - as exactly the way I already was living. Even at that tender age [18] I already felt that. And it was intuitive or instinctive or inbred stubbornness or whatever; but I had already made those choices and suffered for them.
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Faith is cold as ice.Why are little ones born only to sufferfor the want of immunity, or a bowl of rice?Well, who would hold a price on the heads of the innocent childrenif there's some immortal power to control the dice? - Roll The Bones (1991)
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Cast in this unlikely roleIll-equipped to actWith insufficient tactOne must put up barriersTo keep oneself intact - Limelight (1981)
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Waiting for the winds of change to sweep the clouds away. Waiting for the rainbow's end to cast its gold your way ... You don't get something for nothing. You can't have freedom for free.
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Stamina is the force that drives the drumming; it's not really a sprint.
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Different hearts beat on different strings.
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I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose freewill.
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Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand... prejudice, fear and ignorance walk hand-in-hand.
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I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate, Are the liberators here?Do I hope or do I fear?For my father and my brother, it’s too late but I must help my mother stand up straight.Are we the last ones left alive?Are we the only human beings to survive? - Red Sector A (1984)
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A scorching blast of golden fire as it slowly leaves the groundTears away with a mighty forceThe air is shattered by the awesome sound - Countdown (1982)
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Now I call myself a bleeding heart libertarian. Because I do believe in the principles of Libertarianism as an ideal - because I'm an idealist.
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How I prayed just to get awayTo carry me anywhereSometimes the angels punish usBy answering our prayers - Carnies (2012)