Oh, I’m not a percussionist, I just like to hit things.
TOM WAITSIf people are a little nervous about approaching you at the market, it’s good. I’m not Chuckles The Clown. Or Bozo. I don’t cut the ribbon at the opening of markets. I don’t stand next to the mayor. Hit your baseball into my yard, and you’ll never see it again.
More Tom Waits Quotes
-
-
A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn’t.
TOM WAITS -
You learn as much from your kids as they learn from you.
TOM WAITS -
People get frightened that success is going to take them out of life. They’re no longer going to be on the corner of Bedlam and Squalor; life will only be something you can get through the mail.
TOM WAITS -
Don’t look back, because someone might be gaining on you.
TOM WAITS -
The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.
TOM WAITS -
If there’s one thing you can say about mankind, there’s nothing kind about man.
TOM WAITS -
Living with kids is like living with a bunch of drunks. You know you really have to be on your toes all the time. Things are falling over and breaking and spilling. If you live on the second story, you really have to keep the windows shut all the time.
TOM WAITS -
Their memory’s like a train: you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away And the things you can’t remember Tell the things you can’t forget that History puts a saint in every dream.
TOM WAITS -
Slept all night in the cedar grove, I was born to ramble, born to rove, some men are searchin’ for the holy grail, but there ain’t nothin’ sweeter than ridin’ the rails.
TOM WAITS -
Never have your wallet with you onstage. It’s bad luck. You shouldn’t play the piano with money in your pocket. Play like you need the money.
TOM WAITS -
The piano has been drinking, not me.
TOM WAITS -
Got a head full of lightning, a hat full of rain.
TOM WAITS -
We are all just monkeys with money and guns.
TOM WAITS -
Children make up the best songs, anyway. Better than grown-ups. Kids are always working on songs and throwing them away, like little origami things or paper airplanes. They don’t care if they lose it; they’ll just make another one.
TOM WAITS -
I do some acting. And there’s a difference between “I do some acting” and “I’m an actor.”
TOM WAITS






