Tom Waits Quotes

A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't.

Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing.

We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. We are monkeys with money and guns.

when your down on your luck and you've lost all your dreams theres nothing like a campfire and a can of beans

I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy.

I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.

The folks who know the truth aren't talking.... The ones who don't have a clue, you can't shut them up!

You have to keep busy. After all, no dog's ever pissed on a moving car.

When I was younger, I wanted to be older. Now I am older, I am not quite so sure.

Most people don't care if you're telling them the truth or if you're telling them a lie, as long as they're entertained by it.

The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.

Sing me a rainbow. Steal me a dream.

I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in.

If you get far enough away you'll be on your way back home.

I’ve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.

I always thought songs are movies for the ears and films are like songs for the eyes.

I don't have a drinking problem 'Cept when I can't get a drink.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything.

Most of the people I admire, they usually smell funny and don't get out much. It's true. Most of them are either dead or not feeling well.

She's got the whole dark forest living inside of her.

Don't you know there ain't no devil, it's just god when he's drunk.

You're my North Star when I'm lost and feeling blue.

Oh, I'm not a percussionist, I just like to hit things.

I'll be clickin' by your house about two forty-five, Sidewalk Sundae Strawberry Surprise.

I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left.

Let me fall out of the window/ With confetti in my hair

Don't look back, because someone might be gaining on you.

If there's one thing you can say about mankind, there's nothing kind about man.

The trick is to have a career and have a family. It's like having two dogs that hate each other and you have to take them for a walk every night.

It's hard to play with a bagpipe player. It's like an exotic bird. I love the sound, it's like strangling a goose.

I'll tell you all my secrets but I lie about my past.

I did my time in the jail of your arms

Come down off the cross, we could use the wood.

Arithmetic arithmetock Turn the hands back on the clock How does the ocean rock the boat? How did the razor find my throat? The only strings that hold me here Are tangled up around the pier.

Time is just memory Mixed in with Desire.

I like turning on two radios at once. I like hearing things wrong… I get a lot of ideas by mishearing things.

The average person spends two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change.

I admit that I ain't no angel, I admit that I ain't no saint - I'm selfish and I'm cruel and I'm blind. If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave too. When they leave they're so hard to find.

All the donuts have names that sound like prostitutes

slept all night in the cedar grove, i was born to ramble, born to rove, some men are searchin' for the holy grail, but there ain't nothin' sweeter than ridin' the rails

The fact is most of the things that people know about me are made up. My own life is backstage. So what you "know" about me is only what I allowed you to know about me.

Their memory's like a train: you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away And the things you can't remember Tell the things you can't forget that History puts a saint in every dream.

I made a wish on a sliver of moonlight A sly grin and a bowl full of stars

You got to tell me the brave captain Why are the wicked so strong? How do the angels get to sleep When the devil leaves the porch light on?

I'm always looking for sounds that are pleasing at the time. The sound of a helicopter is really annoying until you're drowning, and it's there to rescue you. Then it sounds like music.

I'm not fighting for justice. I am not fighting for freedom. I am fighting for my life and another day in the world here.

For a songwriter, you dont really go to songwriting school; you learn by listening to tunes.

I'll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials on my arm.

I put food on the table and roof overhead. But I'd trade it all tomorrow for the highway instead.

It's rather mystifying when you think about writing songs - where they come from, and how they're born.