Lyricists

"Name another drummer in the rock-pop-prog-fusion idiom who thoroughly composed his parts for every song, never deviating live or otherwise, applied his vision to a 30+ piece electric/acoustic 360 degree orchestral rock kit, and somehow managed to make every part musical, seamless, and iconic. He also wrote the lyrics almost every Rush song. I don't care if you don't like Rush, Neil is undeniable."

"Unstable condition A symptom of life In mental and environmental change Atmospheric disturbance The feverish flux Of human interface and interchange -- Vital Signs (1981)"

"To you, is it movement, or is it action? Is it contact or just reaction? And you, revolution, just resistance? Is it living, or just existence? -- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)"

"Adventures suck when you're having them. -- Roadshow (2006)"

"How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit -- Turn The Page (1987)"

"Everything in moderation, with occasional excess -- Ghost Rider (2002)"

"Danger plus survival equals fun. --From A Work in Progress"

"All the busy little creatures chasing out their destinies. Living in their pools they soon forget about the sea... -- Natural Science (1980)"

"Life is like an aimless river The time is now again -- Ceiling Unlimited (2002)"

"A few guys with guns can spoil everything. -- The Masked Rider (1996)"

"We each pay a fabulous price For our visions of paradise But a spirit with a vision is a dream With a mission -- Mission (1987)"

"An ounce of perception, a pound of obscure Process information at half speed Pause, rewind, replay Warm memory chip Random sample, hold the one you need -- Vital Signs (1981)"

"A planet of playthings We dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive The stars aren't aligned or the gods are maligned Blame is better to give than receive -- Freewill (1980)"

"Imagine a man when it all began The pilot of 'Enola Gay' Flying out of the shockwave on that August day All the powers that be, and the course of history Would be changed forevermore -- Manhattan Project (1985)"

"Life is just a candle, and a dream must give it flame... -- The Fountain of Lamneth (1975)"

"Wave after wave Will flow with the tide And bury the world as it does Tide after tide Will flow and recede Leaving life to go on As it was... -- Natural Science (1980)"

"No one gets to their heaven without a fight -- Armor and Sword (2007)"

"Give me, give me God's own country! there to live and there to die,"

"God of Nations, at thy feet, In thy bonds of love we meet, Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our free land. Guard Pacific's triple star From the shafts of strife and war, Make her presence heard afar, God Defend New Zealand!"

"Life is all a , We regard not how it goes; Let them cant about , Who have characters to lose."

"God knows, I'm no the thing I should be, Nor am I even the thing I could be."

"A fig for those by law protected! 's a glorious feast! Courts for cowards were erected, Churches built to please the ."

"I once was a maid, tho' I cannot tell when, And still my delight is in proper young men."

"But pleasures are like poppies spread— You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river— A moment white—then melts forever."

"His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony: Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither— They had been fou for weeks thegither."

"The landlady and Tam grew gracious Wi' favours secret, sweet, and precious."

"Partly wi' o'ercome sae sair, And partly she was drunk."

"Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet To think how monie counsels sweet, How monie lengthened, sage advices, The husband frae the wife despises!"

"Where sits our sulky, sullen dame, Gathering her brows like gathering storm, Nursing her wrath to keep it warm."

"If there's another world, he lives in bliss; If there is none, he made the best of this."

"Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North; The birth-place of valour, the country of worth."

"My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer; A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go."

"For a' that, and a' that An' twice as muckle 's a' that, I've lost but ane, I've twa behin', I've wife eneugh for a' that."

"He turn'd him right and round about Upon the Irish shore; And gae his bridle reins a shake, With adieu forevermore, My dear— And adieu forevermore!"

"Now a' is done that men can do, And a' is done in vain."

"It was a' for our rightfu' King We left fair Scotland's strand."

"But to see her was to love her; Love but her, and love for ever. Had we never lov'd sae kindly, Had we never lov'd sae blindly, Never met—or never parted, We had ne'er been broken-hearted."

"Though I have never been able to trace my ancestry to the Land o' Cakes, I have—and I know it is saying a great deal—a Scotchman's love for the poet whose fame deepens and broadens with years. The world has never known a truer singer. We may criticise his rustic verse and compare his brief and simple lyrics with the works of men of longer scrolls and loftier lyres; but after rendering to Wordsworth, Tennyson and Browning the homage which the intellect owes to genius, we turn to Burns, if not with awe and reverence, [yet] with a feeling of personal interest and affection. We admire others; we love him. As the day of his birth comes round, I take down his well-worn volume in grateful commemoration, and feel that I am communing with one whom living I could have loved as much for his true manhood and native nobility of soul as for those wonderful songs of his which shall sing themselves forever."

"Her cutty sark, o' Paisley harn, That while a lassie she had worn, In longitude tho' sorely scanty, It was her best, and she was vauntie."

"John Anderson, my jo, John, When we were first acquent, Your locks were like the raven, Your bonie brow was brent; But now your brow is beld, John, Your locks are like the snaw, But blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson, my jo!"

"[A]ll the faculties of Burns' mind were, as far as I could judge, equally vigorous; and his predilection for poetry, was rather the result of his own enthusiastic and impassioned temper, than of a genius exclusively adapted to that species of composition. From his conversation, I should have pronounced him to be fitted to excel in whatever walk of ambition he had chosen to exert his abilities."

"This prophecy of the unity of the [human] race [in "A man's a man for a' that"] is founded on the thoroughly Scottish sentiment, fostered by Scottish history from the days of Wallace till our own times, of the value of man as man, of the dignity of labour, whether physical or mental or moral, as compared with the tinsel shows of privileged indolence. The scorn for the empty "birkie ca'd a lord," and for the king-made dignities unbacked by merit, have persistently remained as Scottish qualities all down the ages, and they are becoming the qualities of men wherever thought has filtered down to the humbler classes, wherever the peasant has learned to venerate himself as man."

"His person was strong and robust; his manners rustic, not clownish; a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity, which received part of its effect, perhaps, from one's knowledge of his extraordinary talents. His features are represented in Mr. Nasmyth's picture, but to me it conveys the idea, that they are diminished as if seen in perspective. I think his countenance was more massive than it looks in any of the portraits. I would have taken the poet, had I not known what he was, for a very sagacious country farmer of the old Scotch school, i.e. none of your modern agriculturists, who keep labourers for their drudgery, but the douce gudeman who held his own plough. There was a strong expression of sense and shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, think, indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, which glowed (I say literally glowed) when he spoke with feeling or interest. I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have seen the most distinguished men of my time. His conversation expressed perfect self-confidence, without the slightest presumption. Among the men who were the most learned of their time and country, he expressed himself with perfect firmness, but without the least intrusive forwardness; and when he differed in opinion, he did not hesitate to express it firmly, yet at the same time with modesty."

"Tam tint his reason a' thegither, And roars out — "Weel done, Cutty-sark!""

"I would claim that Burns is not merely Scotland's greatest poet, but that he is worthy to rank among the greatest poets of the world... Why I claim this place for Burns is this—that he was the poet of nature and of humanity. He raised the conception of the peasant and gave honour and dignity to toil. It is for that reason that all the labouring classes and masses of the world have found in Burns their truest interpreter and their truest friend; and it is as that friend and as that interpreter that I do claim for him a place in the innermost niches of the temple of Fame."

"The landlord's laugh was ready chorus."

"As Tammie glow'red, amazed, and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast and furious."

"Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, O'er a' the ills o' life victorious."

"Dear Rob! manly, witty, fond, friendly, full of weak spots as well as strong ones—essential type of so many thousands—perhaps the average, as just said, of the decent-born young men and the early mid-aged, not only of the British Isles, but America, too, North and South, just the same. I think, indeed, one best part of Burns is the unquestionable proof he presents of the perennial existence among the laboring classes, especially farmers, of the finest latent poetic elements in their blood."

"Burns had intellectual breadth and religious susceptibility enough to appropriate what was best in the two phases of the religious thought of his time. Thus it happened that while the average Moderate looked upon Calvinism as represented by the Covenanters as a detestable fanaticism, an enemy to the amenities of social life, Burns paid tribute to their magnificent stand for liberty... Burns, who had Covenanting blood in his veins, had no need to go to Rousseau for his democratic fervour. His "A man's a man for a' that" owes infinitely more to Samuel Rutherford than to Rousseau."