Neil Peart Quotes
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It's always a happy day when YYZ appears on our luggage tags.
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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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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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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 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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The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect, So hard to earn so easily burned In the fullness of time, A garden to nurture and protect It's a measure of a life The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect, The way you live, the gifts that you give In the fullness of time, It's the only return that you expect.
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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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I'm not looking back, but I want to look around me now. - Time Stand Still (1987)
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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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But glittering prizes and endless compromises, Shatter the illusion of integrity...
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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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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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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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It was actually drumming that gave me the stamina to get into sports later.
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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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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 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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Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand... prejudice, fear and ignorance walk hand-in-hand.
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Each of us A cell of awareness Imperfect and incomplete Genetic blends With uncertain ends On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.
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They say there are strangers who threaten usIn our immigrants and infidelsThey say there is strangeness too dangerousIn our theaters and bookstore shelvesThat those who know what's best for usMust rise and save us from ourselves - Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1980)
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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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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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Wheels can take you around.Wheels can cut you down.We can go from boom to bust.From dreams to a bowl of dust.We can fall from rockets' red glare, down to 'Brother can you spare...'Another war.Another wasteland.And another lost generation - Between The Wheels (1984)