Ed Rollins Quotes

Have you ever heard the expression 'one hot mess?' I think the term was custom-made for the mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford.

Cynicism is only intellectual sloth.

When I am in Africa, I always have the feeling that it's where everything started. When I am in New York, I know it is where everything ended up.

I have had a number of less-than-enviable moments in my life when dealing with other people. I won't attempt to blunt that by saying I am not the only one.

When you title yourself, you immediately lend yourself to all kinds of pretension

What does New York sound like? For me, the Charlie Parker at the Royal Roost recordings on the Savoy label are the total embodiment of the New York music experience.

I have heard people say that they felt closer to their parents after they have died. Maybe if I treat people as if they were dead, I could get along with them better

I've never heard Daft Punk; I've never heard a track of theirs in my life. They're the two guys with motorcycle helmets on?

I was a very repressed young person. I wasn't good at school. I didn't fit in.

I'm not into fame. I'm not into making money, outside of financing my books. I'm not into status. My thing is basically about time - not wasting it.

Help me to withstand your beauty as it stands out of reach. Give me the capacity to forget ever having felt your touch.

When the movie comes out, what anybody thinks of it doesn't really matter to me. I don't go to the wrap party. I don't go to the premiere.

'Duck Dynasty' is a ridiculous show, and long may it wave. America and democracy will endure. They've seen a lot worse.

This is my 25th year of being on stage. A lot of people who I kind of toed up to the starting line with are no longer in this position. I feel very, very lucky.

As a young person, I wanted everyone to agree with me.

Whenever any great song or album gets lost in the ether, someone is deprived of the joy of hearing it, and the great effort of those who created and recorded the work is damaged.

When I think of Mick Jagger still singing that he can't get any satisfaction in over forty years of being in the Rolling Stones, I have to conclude that he's either lying or not all that bright.

After I left D.C. to join Black Flag, I felt I was in a band.

Seasonal change in Los Angeles is often a very subtle thing. It's not as if we finally stop having to shovel the snow out of our driveways and can put our parkas back in the closet.

I'm most comfortable on stage.

I'd like to talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'cause I live in California and I just want to see that canned, chemical filled body in my office.

If you are a musician who has released albums, it would perhaps be morbidly interesting to know how much you would be owed if everyone who now has your music had actually bought your record.

I've been in Iraq, and it never occurred to me to go, 'Hey, this war is bogus,' to some guy who's 24 hours a day trying not to get shot at or blown up.

I have always thought that change you can see and feel is best.

Without an education, you won't have a future.

I can die anytime I want. I wish I could do the same with life.

Don't go to summer camp. Bury your parents in the backyard and have the place to yourself.

Discipline is money in the bank. A real friend, true strength.

Sometimes you can get so far in yourself that you don't know who you are.

The world’s a better place since I chose music. I like the physical aspect of it, the volume and the intensity of it. It’s loud and hard. I like all that because inside me I feel like screaming.

Being unique is never easy, and often, by the time culture catches up with you, there are only a few people who notice.

Now you see how you are, the wisdom mixed in with all the scars.

Voting is completely important. People in America think democracy is a given. I think of it as an ecosystem, and what gets in the way of it is politicians and apathy.

No time for drug addiction, no time for smoke or booze. Too strong for a shortened life span, I've got no time to lose.

I'm not interested in censorship. I like the First Amendment very much.

If you really want to rebel against your parents: outearn them, outlive them, and know more than they do.

A gun in your hand makes a fool out of you. A gun in your hand makes a target out of me.

Put temptation on the unenjoyment line.

August brings into sharp focus and a furious boil everything I've been listening to in the late spring and summer.

If the Constitution was a movie, the Preamble would be the trailer, the First Amendment the establishing shot, the 13th the crowd pleaser and the 14th the ultimate hero scene.

Break from self rejection, try some introspection.

I'm a liar. I'll rip your mind up. I'll burn your soul, I'll turn you in to me.

Creating problems is easy. We do it all the time. Finding solutions, ones that last and produce good results, requires guts and care.

I got three letters today telling me that I'm god. Why can't I pay the rent?

It is you who makes me see what I really am.

Thank you for touching me. Some of the only moments worth living were spent with you. Not you especially, the collective you.

Nelson Mandela will always be the face of South Africa. The traveler passing through the country will see Mandela's face almost everywhere he looks. Truly, the man is omnipresent.

I see walking bombs on the street Hearts not beating, but ticking

It is just that I don't want a wife and I don't want kids.

If you listen to the way I speak and watch the way I conduct myself - there's nothing about me that's rock n' roll. It's like, 'Hello, I'm in a rock n' roll band'. 'No, you're a narc.'