Neil Peart Quotes

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand... prejudice, fear and ignorance walk hand-in-hand.

From the point of ignition. To the final drive. The point of the journey is not to arrive.

...The important thing is: if you fail once, or if your luck is bad this time, the dream is still there. A dream is only over if you give it up-or if it comes true.

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.

You can surrender without a prayer, but never really pray without surrender. You can fight without ever winning, but never ever win without a fight.

If you've got a problem, take it out on a drum.

A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission.

Playing a three-hour Rush show is like running a marathon while solving equations.

How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit

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.

Waiting for the winds of change to sweep the clouds away. Waiting for the rainbow's end to cast its gold your way ... You don't get something for nothing. You can't have freedom for free

What is a master but a master student? And if that's true, then there's a responsibility on you to keep getting better and to explore avenues of your profession.

All the world's indeed a stage And we are merely players Performers and portrayers Each another's audience outside the gilded cage

Dedicated to the future, with honor to the past.

Don't try to change Doofus, let Doofus change you.

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.

I remain the optimist: you just do your best and hope for the best. But it's an evolving state of mind.

Live for yourself... there's no one else more worth living for...

Stamina is the force that drives the drumming; it's not really a sprint.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

Living in the limelight: the universal dream for those who wish to SEEM. Those who wish to BE, must put aside the alienation, get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme.

I still totally believe in individual rights and individual responsibility and in choosing to do good.

It's always a happy day when YYZ appears on our luggage tags.

Could hell be a place where there is no self-respect? A place where people have no pride in their own existence or behavior, and thus would have none for anyone or anything else?

No one gets to their heaven without a fight...

Look in, look the storm in the eye. Look out, to the sea and the sky. Look around, at the sight and sound. Look in, look out, look around.

Let your heart be the anchor and the beat of your song.

I have come to believe that anger and grudges are burning embers in the heart.

The tarot card 'The Tower' seemed a chilling reflection of the events of September 11, 2001.

Everything in moderation, with occasional excess.

I don't like lyrics that are just thrown together, that were obviously written as you went along, or the song was already written and the guy made up the lyrics in five minutes.

You just become adaptable and try to lead a good life in ways that make sense, regardless. Because I know at the end of it, if I'm going to meet Jesus or Allah or Buddha, I'm going to be all right.

We're only immortal for a limited time.

It was actually drumming that gave me the stamina to get into sports later.

You can't get wise with sleep still in your eyes no matter what your dream might be.

Throw off those chains of reason and your prison disappears.

Extroverts never understand introverts, and it was like that in school days.

Once I had defined myself as a compositional drummer, I thought, "Well, I want to be an improvisational drummer."

But glittering prizes and endless compromises, Shatter the illusion of integrity...

The ones we wish could hear us have heard it all before.

If I do something weird, play it twice and it's a new part.

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.

Geddy once joked, 'You're the only guy I know who rehearses to rehearse!

Like a force of nature love can fade with the stars at dawn...

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.

Those who know what's best for us must rise and save us from ourselves.

To me, drum soloing is like doing a marathon and solving equations at the same time.

While I believe in all that freedom, I also believe that no one should suffer needlessly.

I love jokes as much as anyone, but I don't want to hear my snail jokes every day. But I might want to hear a good song every day.