Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Songs are often character studies.
A novel is a performance you have to plan.
Good things never last, bad things never die.
Do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive.
I'd played with Jon Wurster as a duo just for a lark.
My work is more important than I am. I'm just some guy.
There is something fierce and starved about first ideas.
Wrestling's a form of expression, and it expresses vastness.
I write for a lot of places, so I'm on a lot of promo lists.
There are only two stories: either you go forward or you die.
My songs tend to sprint toward some epiphany and then explode.
I think it's a misconception that metal's about anger, obviously.
Everybody experiences reality in a way that's only true for them.
I'll keep making records until I don't have more ideas for records.
Your intelligence doesn't override your desire to destroy yourself.
It's hard to stay positive when there's a lot of evil in the world.
What's scary is the unknown, the stuff you can't put your finger on.
One way you can get really close to God is to sin as hard as you can.
I was writing poetry, and the Mountain Goats was an outgrowth of that.
At 23, you can completely, literally reinvent yourself if you want to.
I know it's a cliché to say I write for myself, but I write for myself.
I seem to get the best work when I'm angry and depressed and alienated.
There are real teachers out there; I don't pretend to have their mantle.
When you're born into a showbiz family, the deck is stacked against you.
I crave music that'll sort of hurtle me into space and release me up there.
People involved in my personal life make fun of me a lot for not being jaded.
I don't have a favorite drink. I don't do favorites of anything, practically.
My father would tell me if I wasn't writing in meter verse, it wasn't poetry.
It's hard always to say what it is one likes about a place, for me. I feel it.
When you know where somebody is, you know the most important thing about them.
I don't write my own publicity materials, I just read 'em and give 'em the OK.
People say friends don't destroy one another. What do they know about friends?
Literature is a mystical place for me. It's not dry. It's where miracles happen.
I still get really excited looking at stuff that I've seen every day for 20 years.
Young people like to feel self-righteous, like they're on the right side of things.
Gender relations are a sad story of men talking trash about women all over the world.
People think of me as a nice person because, I think, I have grown into a nice person.
You can get into anything if you are determined. I always thought that with music, too.
The more I learn about stuff the more conscious I become of grave gaps in my knowledge.
People do all sorts of things impulsively and follow those impulses into strange places.
When you punish a person for dreaming his dream, don't expect him to thank or forgive you.
I wrote short stories when I was a teenager, but they weren't any good and I kinda knew it.
I don't understand being idle; I don't have an idle setting. I probably should develop one.
Sometimes I do 'So Desperate' solo in the middle of the set. I really love to sing that song.
I enjoy hearing people who are good at their instruments and who've found a distinctive voice.
Conservative forces in the South have a lot of power - almost dynastic - dating back many years.
One or two people have named their children after characters in my songs. That's pretty intense.
I'm so disconnected from an indie-rock community that I am the hermit people used to guess I was.
I don't sit down and say I'm going to write a song about this or that. They are never mapped out.
The reality of having a kid involves day-to-day practicality - not broader philosophical outlooks.