Neil Peart Quotes
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I want to be an improviser, and I've worked very hard at that. It's an art. You don't just play whatever comes into your head; you have to be very deliberate about what you do.
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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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I set a course just east of LyraAnd northwest of PegasusFlew into the light of DenebSailed across the Milky WayOn my ship, the 'Rocinante'Wheeling through the galaxiesHeaded for the heart of CygnusHeadlong into mystery - Cygnus X-1, Book One; The Voyage (1977)
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I feel the sense of possibilitiesI feel the wrench of hard realitiesThe focus is sharp in the city - The Camera Eye (1981)
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Imagine a man when it all beganThe pilot of 'Enola Gay'Flying out of the shockwave on that August dayAll the powers that be, and the course of historyWould be changed forevermore - Manhattan Project (1985)
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You just become adaptable and try to lead a good life in ways that make sense, regardless. Because I know at the end of it, if I'm going to meet Jesus or Allah or Buddha, I'm going to be all right.
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Performing live in front of an audience is such a matter of will - all of those things you can do just fine in your basement, suddenly you have to do them in front of hundreds or thousands of people, and it becomes a different matter entirely.
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It's always a happy day when YYZ appears on our luggage tags.
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But glittering prizes and endless compromises, Shatter the illusion of integrity...
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As crises came up later on - "Oh, we have to compromise, and the record company wants to do this," I'd be like, "No, I don't have to."
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Quick to judge - Quick to anger - Slow to understandIgnorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand - Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1981)
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The world weighs on my shouldersBut what am I to do?You sometimes drive me crazyBut I worry about youI know it makes no differenceTo what you’re going throughBut I see the tip of the icebergAnd I worry about you... - Distant Early Warning (1984)
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I can worship Nature, and that fulfills my need for miracles and beauty. Art gives a spiritual depth to existence -- I can find worlds bigger and deeper than my own in music, paintings, and books. And from my friends and family I receive the highest benediction, emotional contact, and personal affirmation. I can bow before the works of Man, from buildings to babies, and that fulfills my need for wonder. I can believe in the sanctity of Life, and that becomes the Revealed Word, to live my life as I believe it should be, not as I'm told to by self-appointed guides.
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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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Geddy once joked, 'You're the only guy I know who rehearses to rehearse!
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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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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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Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to play music that I liked, and even when I was in cover bands when I was a teenager we only played cover tunes that we liked. That was the simple morality that I grew up with.
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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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With people too, you constantly think, "If I'm nice to people and treat them well, they'll appreciate it and behave better." They won't, but it's still not a bad way to live.
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It was actually drumming that gave me the stamina to get into sports later.
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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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To get nostalgic about other people's music, or even about your own, makes a terrible statement about the condition of your life and your prospects for the future.
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Don't try to change Doofus, let Doofus change you.