The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value counts. On it centers the rationality of the status quo, and all alien rationality is bent to It.

The truth of art lies in its power to break the monopoly of established reality to define what is real.

Under the rule of a repressive whole, liberty can be made into a powerful instrument of domination.

Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the world.

The spontaneous reproduction of superimposed needs by the individual does not establish autonomy; it only testifies to the efficacy of the control.

The Superego, in censoring the unconscious and in implanting conscience, also censors the censor.

Most people are afraid of freedom. They are conditioned to be afraid of it.

There is no free society without silence, without the internal and external spaces of solitude in which the individual freedom can develop.

Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.

Entertainment and learning are not opposites; entertainment may be the most effective mode of learning.

The people recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment.

Every child should be taught how to read, write and think.

The way I was parented did affect my parenting - probably in the reverse. My dad was pretty strict, and the next generation probably wants to be less strict.

The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.

The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed.

I don't like having noise swirling around me. Loud noises bother me, so I try to stick to the outside of a room.

It's mass confusion. I'm guessing on every shot. About the only thing left for me is acupuncture in the brain.

Life was meant to be happy.

Music saved my life a few times because I could play the stuff rednecks loved. They thought I was great and they wondered why I didn't do that all the time.

I acknowledge that four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what our soul is.

There are men in the world who derive an exaltation from the proximity of disaster and ruin, as other from success.