“Structure is more important than content in the transmission of information.”

The essence of successful revolution, be it for an individual, a community of individuals, or a nation, depends on accepting that challenge.

The ’60s are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free, and the rock and roll never as great.

I learned one thing; you never do anything for fame or money. You only do things ’cause they’re fun or good. If you can combine the two at the same time, you can make a contribution to the world and have a lot of happiness.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Life-actors never rehearse and need no script. A life-actor uses whatever he has available, nothing more, nothing less.

Once you get the right image the details aren’t that important.

The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. The second duty is to eat breakfast. I ain’t going.

I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.

When I appear in the Chicago courtroom, I want to be tried not because I support the NLF – which I do – but because I have long hair.

Every rock or molotov cocktail thrown should make a very obvious political point. Random violence produces random propaganda results. Why waste even a rock?

The idea that media is there to educate us, or to inform us, is ridiculous because that’s about tenth or eleventh on their list.

Peace is a very complicated concept. When the lion gobbles up the lamb and wipes his lips, then there’s peace. Well, I ain’t for that peace at all.

If you don’t have sex and you don’t do drugs, your rock ‘n’ roll better be awfully good.

Wouldn’t you want to be indicted by the govenment for a high crime? It’s a great thrill. It’s an honor. It’s a compliment. It’s fun. I’m enjoying every minute of it!

Understand that legal and illegal are political, and often arbitrary, categorizations; use and abuse are medical, or clinical, distinctions.

Maintain a sense of humor. People who take themselves too seriously are power-crazy. If they win it will be haircuts for all. Beware of power freaks.

Music’s exclusive function is to structure the flow of time and keep order in it.

You can look at the cost structure of an incumbent company and discover: where are they not going to be able to drop their prices… because that business model is fundamental to the existence of the company.

A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions It is classic because of a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness.

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

Music rearranges your molecular structure.

You can’t overthink the music. Mood and intensity can’t be manufactured. The blues isn’t about structure; it’s what you bring to it. The spontaneity of capturing a specific moment is what drives it.

I always felt if we were going in to do an album, there should already be a lot of structure already made up so we could get on with that and see what else happened.

When you hear the melodic structures of what classical musicians put together and you compare it to that of a rock & roll record, there’s a hell of a long way rock & roll has to go.