Jerry Garcia Quotes

We're like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.

You ain't gonna learn what you don't wanna know.

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.

Truth is something you stumble into when you think you're going someplace else.

You don't want to be the best at what you do, you want to be the only one.

Nothing left to do but smile.

It's pretty clear now that what looked like it might have been some kind of counterculture is, in reality, just the plain old chaos of undifferentiated weirdness.

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.

If you're able to enjoy something, to devote your life to it or a reasonable amount of time and energy, it will work out for you.

All I know is, if you listen to society, you'll never get anywhere!

You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who does what you do.

Live life expecting the worst, hoping for the best, and living for the future!

Sometimes the lights all shining on me, other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it's been.

I equate Deadheads to people that like black licorice. There aren't many people that like black licorice, but the ones that do, REALLY REALLY like it! Or buttermilk, or whatever.

We're involved in a society which is undergoing some really weird changes now.

To me, that's the key thing, the pursuit of happiness. That's the basic, ultimate freedom.

Magic is what we do, music is how we do it.

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will.

What is life but being conscious? And good and evil are manifestations of consciousness. If you reject one, you're not getting the whole thing that's there to be had.

We would all like to be able to live an uncluttered life, a simple life, a good life.

Done time in the lock-up, done time on the streets. Done time on the upswing, and time in defeat. I know what I'm askin'. I know it's a lot. Just to say that I love you. Believe it or not.

The real problems are cultural. The problems of the people who take drugs as a cultural trap - I think there's a real problem there, the crack stuff, the hopelessness of the junkie. The urban angst.

America is still mostly xenophobic and racist. That's the nature of America, I think.

Too much of a good thing is just about right

For me, the lame part of the Sixties was the political part, the social part. The real part was the spiritual part.

Each person makes their own decision about what it is that is happening, whether they like it or don't like it, whether they want to lend their energy to it or not or what, you know.

I think The Grateful Dead kind of represents the spirit of being able to go out and have an adventure in America at large.

Right now, America is under the gun. It's being tested and is being co-opted in a big way.

We didn't invent the Grateful Dead, the crowd invented the Grateful Dead. We were just in line to see what was going to happen.

And when you don't have to talk to the person next to you, that's real clean. Takes a certain thing not to try to keep anything up, not to have to entertain one another.

We were very fortunate to have a a little time in history when LSD was still legal and were able to experiment with drugs just like we were doing with music.

If you assume you haven't learned anything yet, there's no reason your playing can't stay dynamic all your life.

If you think of music as a universal language, it still has some very powerful dialects.

It's not enough to be the best at what you do. You must be perceived as the only one who does what you do.

I read somewhere that 77 per cent of all the mentally ill live in poverty. Actually, I'm more intrigued by the 23 per cent who are apparently doing quite well for themselves.

Hunter can write a melody and stuff like that, but his forte is lyrics. He can write a serviceable melody to hang his lyrics on, and sometimes he comes up with something really nice.

What a long strange trip it's been.

Stuff that's hidden and murky and ambiguous is scary because you don't know what it does.

You can't repeat things because each time is different. The universe has changed. Everything has changed.

Everybody needs adventure, and everybody needs something to enlarge his or her lives.

And as far as I'm concerned, it's like I say, drugs are not the problem. Other stuff is the problem.

Every silver lining has a touch of grey.

I mean, whatever kills you kills you, and your death is authentic no matter how you die.

What's been great about the human race gives you a sense of how great you might get, how far you can reach.

For me, I think the only danger is being too much in love with guitar playing. The MUSIC is the most important thing, and the guitar is only the instrument.

Whistle through your teeth and spit cuz, it's Alright

The bigger issue, was the whole takeover of the food industry by big corporations.

I don't think that Slaughterhouse-Five was successful movie material. In fact, Vonnegut's books mostly I don't feel are movie material.

Nobody stopped thinking about those psychedelic experiences. Once you've been to some of those places, you think, 'How can I get back there again but make it a little easier on myself?'

Listen to the river sing sweet songs to rock my soul.