Henry Rollins Quotes

My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.

Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.

No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go.

I am an optimist because I want to change things for the better and I know that blood has to be spilled and disharmony and cruelty are necessary to do that.

I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds

It's sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew.

I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.

Strength is the product of struggle, you must do what others don't to achieve what others won't.

There’s one thing about Black Sabbath which should not be understated: If Black Sabbath is missing any one of its members it’s no longer Black Sabbath.

We all learn lessons in life. Some stick, some don't. I have always learned more from rejection and failure than from acceptance and success.

Yes, I guess you could say I am a loner, but I feel more lonely in a crowed room with boring people than I feel on my own.

Most poets are elitist dregs more concerned with proving their skill with a dictionary than communicating ideas with impact.

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a hopeless romantic who listens to love ballads and doo-wop songs all the time.

I don't want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride.

Now, if someone wants to spit on me, I just roll up the window of my BMW 540i.

Pizza makes me think that anything is possible.

I will never say the things that I want to say to you. I know the damage it would do. I love you more than I hate my loneliness and pain.

If I had to live my life in anticipation of what others thought of me, little would get done.

In my world there would be as many public libraries as there are Starbucks.

Weakness is what brings ignorance, cheapness, racism, homophobia, desperation, cruelty, brutality, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.

I would like to be able to gently drift in and out of existence when I wanted to.

You always know the mark of a coward. A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others.

When you start to doubt yourself the real world will eat you alive.

All by yourself, unable to express the pain of your distress with your deeper inside. You alienate yourself and everybody else.

I want a soul mate who can sit me down, shut me up, tell me ten things I don't already know, and make me laugh. I don't care what you look like, just turn me on.

Knowledge without mileage equals bullshit.

I'll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. Still does.

I am a veteran of the War on Christmas. I am just emerging from a battlefield strewn with dead trees and torn shreds of brightly colored wrapping paper.

Sometimes the truth hurts. And sometimes it feels real good.

Want a good body? Work at it. Want to be a success? Work at it. Want to be truly exceptional? Be a touch insane... You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.

In the worst of times the best among us never lose their moral compass, and that is how they emerge relatively unscathed.

Here in this moment we are beautiful, nocturnal creatures and our thoughts and words are jewels guarded by the moon.

Disappointment always arrives before hope and the darkness of night comes before the dawn. Don't lose hope now because things will brighter with the new day.

Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.

I am an employment hyena. I am happy to make a meal of what the lions leave behind.

There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp.

Life will not break your heart. It'll crush it.

My love runs deeper than the wounds.

When life hands you a lemon, say, 'Oh yeah, I like lemons! What else ya got?

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me.

It's so painful to be next to someone you feel strongly about and know you can't say the things you want to.

Best not to mix the past with the present. The present paints the past with gold. The past paints the present with lead.

If you have an idea of what you want to do in your future, you must go at it with almost monastic obsession. [...] You have to go at it single-mindedly and let nothing get in your way.

We spend millions of dollars to remove pain from our lives. It's why so many people get hooked on painkillers. The body becomes addicted to painlessness. That tells you a lot.

The scarcity of the music not only makes the music itself enjoyable but it also gives the collector a strange sense of superiority.

I'm mellower now, I'm over 50. But I don't think I'm too mellow. I'm still angry at a lot of things.

I know I was a generic dysfunctional child, but I think a lot of people are.

Nothing brings people together more, than mutual hatred.

Jazz music is as American as it gets, and so is the U.S. Postal Service. A Miles Davis stamp is a perfect marriage of two great American institutions.