"Life gets you coming and going. If you sterilize or police the spontaneity of children, it will return as stupidity, gracelessness, and violent crime."

"This I did with all my will and apparently indefatigably (but I will one day drop with weariness)—I invented a different practical world that made no sense and took the heart out of me. Instead of resigning, I reacted, in moments of despair, by thinking up something else, and behaving as if this more pleasing landscape might indeed come to be the case."

"There is a dilemma in any High Standard of Living in a profit economy. I am referring to the embarrassing truth that the best things in life are free. ... things like friendly competitive sports, friendly gambling, love-making and sex, solitary study and reading, contemplation of nature and cosmos, art-working, music, religion."

"The chessboard was reflected in her eyes. Eager to beat her, first I looked on her eyes. I made a Spanish move, an ancient one, and broken was the red rank of pawns in her light eyes. Then I lowered my eyes from that chessboard and Love said, "Oh not her; conquer the king if you can.""

"Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now! Whatever you would do then, do it now. When you run up against obstacles, people, or things that won't let you live that way, then begin to think about how to get over or around or under that obstacle, or how to push it out of the way, and your politics will be concrete and practical."

"Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain With the barkers and the colored balloons, You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain Though you're thinking that You're leaving there too soon, You're leaving there too soon."

"Neil Young is not a singer, nor is he a guitarist. Neil Young is a force of nature, like the wind or the sea or the sun, and his blazing talent is never better showcased than when he sits and strums his old Martin. He is able to achieve more with one note than most guitarists can with a hundred, and while his playing is sparse and song-orientated, you won’t find a finer example of music’s power to move anywhere else in the known universe. A living, breathing musical genius."

"Neil, you know, was this rock & roller who was coming around to folk music through Bob Dylan. Of course. Anyway, Neil came out to the club, and we liked him immediately. He was the same way he is now – this offhanded, dry wit. And you know what his ambition was at the time? He wanted a hearse, and a chicken farm. And when you think of it, what he’s done with his dream is not that far off. He just added a few buffalo. And a fleet of antique cars. He’s always been pretty true to his vision."

"And we'll be watching you No matter what you do And you can do your part By watchin' others too."

"Need distraction Need romance and candlelight Need random violence Need entertainment tonight Need the evidence Want the testimony of Expert witnesses On the brutal crimes of love."

"I never believed in much, But I believed in you."

"Welfare mothers make better lovers."

"We got a thousand points of light For the homeless man. We got a kinder, gentler, Machine gun hand. We got department stores And toilet paper Got styrofoam boxes For the ozone layer. Got a man of the people, Says keep hope alive Got fuel to burn, Got roads to drive."

"There's colors on the street Red, white and blue People shufflin' their feet People sleepin' in their shoes But there's a warnin' sign On the road ahead There's a lot of people sayin' We'd be better off dead. Don't feel like Satan, But I am to them. So I try to forget it, Any way I can."

"The economy was getting so bad, I had to lay myself off."

"When I was a younger man, Got lucky with a rock 'n' roll band, Struck gold in Hollywood, All the time I knew I would Get back to the country, Back where it all began. Get back to the country, Back in the barn again."

"Live music is better! Bumper stickers should be issued!"

"Shelter me from the powder And the finger Cover me with the thought That pulled the trigger Think of me As one you'd never figured Would fade away so young With so much left undone."

"In my little box At the top of the stair With my Indian rug And a pipe to share."

"The king is gone But he's not forgotten. This is the story Of a Johnny Rotten It's better to burn out Than it is to rust. The king is gone But he's not forgotten."

"Where the eagle glides ascending There's an ancient river bending Through the timeless gorge of changes Where sleeplessness awaits."

"My my, hey hey Rock and roll is here to stay. It's better to burn out Than to fade away. My my, hey hey."

"It's gonna take a lotta love To get us through the night It's gonna take a lotta love To make things work out right."

"It's gonna take a lotta love To change the way things are It's gonna take a lotta love Or we won't get too far."

"It's a cold bowl of chili when love lets you down."

"You are like a hurricane There's calm in your eye. And I'm gettin' blown away To somewhere safer Where the feeling stays. I want to love you but I'm getting blown away."

"Please take my advice, please take my advice, Open up the tired eyes, Open up the tired eyes."

"He tried to do his best but he could not."

"I've been flyin' down the road, And I've been starvin' to be alone, Independent from the scene that I've known."

"I'm not going back to Woodstock for a while, Though I long to hear that lonesome hippie smile, I'm a million miles away from that helicopter day, No, I don't think I'll be goin' back that way."

"Think I'll roll another number for the road, I feel able to get under any load, Though my feet aren't on the ground, I've been standing on the sound Of some open-hearted people going down."

"I'm singin' this borrowed tune I took from the Rolling Stones, Alone in this empty room, too wasted to write my own."

"And the world on a string doesn't mean a thing."

"Oh tell me where the answer lies, Is it in the notebook behind your eyes?"

"Well, people let me tell you, it sent a chill up and down my spine, When I picked up the telephone and heard that he'd died out on the mainline."

"A sparkle was in his eye, but his life was in his hand."

"On the shore lay Montezuma with his coca leaves and pearls In his halls he often wondered of the secrets of the worlds.... The women all were beautiful, the men stood straight and strong They offered life in sacrifice so that others could go on Hate was just a legend, war was never known The people worked together and they lifted many stones."

"He came dancing across the water with his galleons and guns Looking for the new world in that palace in the sun"

"I have seen you in the movies, And in those magazines at night. I saw you on the barstool, When you held that glass so tight."

"You're all just pissin' in the wind, You don't know it but you are."

"I guess I'll call it sickness gone, It's hard to say the meaning of this song."

"Well, all those people, they think they've got it made, But I wouldn't buy, sell, borrow or trade Anything I have to be like one of them. I'd rather start all over again."

"The world is turning, I hope it don't turn away."

"You can really learn a lot that way, It will change you in the middle of the day, Though your confidence may be shattered, It doesn't matter."

"Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars, But I hate them worse than lepers and I'll kill them in their cars."

"Oh, baby, that's hard to change, I can't tell them how to feel, Some get stoned, some get strange, But sooner or later, it all gets real. Walk on. Walk on."

"A while ago somewhere I don't know when I was watching a movie with a friend I fell in love with the actress She was playing a part that I could understand A maid"

"If I was a junkman selling you cars, Washing your windows and shining your stars, Thinking your mind was my own in a dream What would you wonder and how would it seem? Living in castles a bit at a time The King started laughing and talking in rhyme. Singing words, words between the lines of age. Words, words between the lines of age."

"I've seen the needle and the damage done. A little part of it in everyone. But every junkie's like a settin' sun."

"Old man take a look at my life I'm a lot like you. I need someone to love me The whole day through. Ah, one look in my eyes And you can tell that's true."