Neil Peart Quotes
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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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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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Half the world cries Half the world laughs Half the world tries To be the other half.
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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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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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How I prayed just to get awayTo carry me anywhereSometimes the angels punish usBy answering our prayers - Carnies (2012)
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I am a big fan of Dos Passos' stylistic ability, his poetic approach to prose, but the ideas presented in the songs are quite different from those which he exemplified.
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When I was young, my ambitions were very modest. I thought, "If only I could play at the battle of the bands at the Y, that would be the culmination of existence!"
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I think everything I do has Howard Roark [hero of The Fountainhead] in it, you know, as much as anything. The person I write for is Howard Roark.
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While I believe in all that freedom, I also believe that no one should suffer needlessly.
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Don't try to change Doofus, let Doofus change you.
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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
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To me, the highest expression of life is art with jokes. It's very rarified, very difficult to accomplish if you want to be more than just funny, and more than just jokes about human gaseousness.
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I expect if you're a professional public speaker, you probably wouldn't want to go onstage and sing and play drums.
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The tarot card 'The Tower' seemed a chilling reflection of the events of September 11, 2001.
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What a young musician's dream, to say, "Look at those chrome drums. Look at that 22-inch ride cymbal. I'll have those." It was one of those unparalleled exciting days of your life.
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There's still a lot I'm angry about, a lot of human behaviour that's appalling and despicable, but you choose what you can fight against. I always thought if I could just put something in words perfectly enough, people would get the idea and it would change things.
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You can do a lot in a lifetime, if you don't burn out too fast/You can make the most of the distance/First you need endurance/First you've got to last.
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There's a new reality born every minute. Unless one is a believer in predestination (in which case I'll call the prestidigitator), or other puppet-like restraints on our powers, one is free to imagine and effect changes on the world. And if enough people do it, there are big changes. These things happen. Anything can.
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I had spindly little ankles, and growing up in Canada, I couldn't skate. I was no good at any sports so was very much a pariah through those adolescent years.
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It's interesting. I've known quite a few good athletes that can't begin to play a beat on the drum set. Most team sport is about the smooth fluidity of hand-eye coordination and physical grace, where drumming is much more about splitting all those things up.
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Half the world hates What half the world does every day Half the world waits While half gets on with it anyway.
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No, his mind is not for rent To any God or government Always hopeful yet discontent He knows changes aren't permanent But change is.
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Pure libertarianism believes that people will be generous and help each other. Well, they won't. I wish it were so, and I live that way.