Music can be used against us as much as it can be used for us. Muzak can put a whole nation to sleep, whereas a lullaby is intended to put a child to sleep in a sweet way.

You just keep feeding hogwash to people, and pretty soon they'll eat it.

It is essential that men start being interested in and excited by how women think.

Part of keeping space open is not to try to choose a form - to spend more time thinking about content, and let form take care of itself.

Music can be used against us as much as it can be used for us. Muzak can put a whole nation to sleep, whereas a lullaby is intended to put a child to sleep in a sweet way.

My parents had been involved in the labor movement; if we'd grown up in the city, we would have been red-diaper babies.

To my great surprise and pleasure, I have had dinner with most of the people living with whom I would like to have dinner.

Once women are not excluded, I don't think any of us will give a damn what pronouns are used. That wasn't the point.

I don't believe in nirvana. If nirvana was handed to us on a silver platter, this would be the first day of our struggle to keep it.

A lot of artists say, I'm not political. People are afraid of this word.

When an audience comes to one of my concerts, I hope they'll see themselves, somewhere, in one of the songs.

You can't just leave out one part; the bread won't rise if the yeast isn't there.

When we make mistakes, say, I'm blessed that I have an opportunity to learn from this.

I like this life. I like it when it's hard, and I like it better when it's not, but I know you don't get the sweet part without the bitter.

We who are interested in relative truth have to keep digging for it and not let ourselves be sucked under.

It's been important to me to be a good activist, a good thinker, a good musician, a good singer, and a good entertainer. You can't do it all, but I have walked those delicate lines as best I know how.

Language is like songs, like food, like dance-it is the expression of what we think.

When the students were killed at Kent State, the cast voted to do a demonstration from the stage, and I abstained.

To be always in a state of wonder is a kind of sensitivity that can sometimes be an extraordinary blessing and sometimes a real pain.

My parents encouraged thought. You'll get through life better if you learn how to think.

My creativity and my political work are linked. I don't do this work out of guilt or out of responsibility.

To come to a concert and hear a lot of songs from a female perspective should not make men say, 'Oh well, that's for women'.

If I didn't think and feel the way I think and feel, I couldn't sing the way I sing. And I like singing the way I sing.

Leaping away from my mistakes has propelled me forward. It has great force behind it. It makes for great storytelling.

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?

The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

Part of being an artist is being willing to be shocked, being willing to be surprised, being willing to be hurt.

I'm not allowing my perspective to be dictated by the dominant culture.

People love to hear the mistakes you've made.

The women's movement completely changed attitudes all over the world in ways we'll never be able to count.

White middle- and upper-class men have a longer journey to go than many people.

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

You can't just leave out one part; the bread won't rise if the yeast isn't there.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

My singing is my hobby. It's me and my brother. We just enjoy writing music.

I was determined to carve out a music of my own. I didn't want to copy anybody.

I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.