I always had a great appreciation for jazz, but I’m a very pedestrian musician. I get by. I like to think that my main instrument is vocabulary.
TOM WAITSThe world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.
More Tom Waits Quotes
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But then I’m one of those guys that is still a bit afraid of the telephone, its implications for conversation. I still wonder if the jukebox might be the death of live music.
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I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left.
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Don’t plant your days they turn into weeds.
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New York forces you to be in endless surreal situations.
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On my gravestone, I want it to say, “I told you I was sick.”
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If you get far enough away you’ll be on your way back home.
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I did my time in the jail of your arms.
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You’re my North Star when I’m lost and feeling blue.
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I’m not fighting for justice. I am not fighting for freedom. I am fighting for my life and another day in the world here.
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If 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.
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I’m always looking for sounds that are pleasing at the time. The sound of a helicopter is really annoying until you’re drowning, and it’s there to rescue you. Then it sounds like music.
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We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness.
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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.
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I put food on the table and roof overhead. But I’d trade it all tomorrow for the highway instead.
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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