Henry Rollins

The blues is losing someone you love and not having enough money to immerse yourself in drink.

Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.

I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.

Hope is the last thing a person does before they are defeated.

So I'm more at home with my backpack, sleeping in a hotel room or on a bus or on an airplane, than I am necessarily on a bed. It's weird being here. It feels like I'm standing next to my real life.

I've made some great mistakes in my life, but, you know, they were honest mistakes.

You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.

Why do you think the old stories tell of men who set out on great journeys to impress the gods? Because trying to impress people just isn't worth the time and effort.

Sometimes the truth hurts. And sometimes it feels real good.

Most Americans are very cool people.

I don't mind The Boss. I think he's an honest guy. I have some of his records, not all of them. I've met a couple of the E-Street guys, and they seem really cool.

I want to change things for the better, just like everybody else.

The only difference between me and others is that they think they can change something with cute little poems, nice cards or embracing trees and being nice to little lapdogs.

I am an optimist because I want to change things for the better and I know that blood has to be spilled and disharmony and cruelty are necessary to do that.

I have always thought that change you can see and feel is best.

Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.

Being an artist is dragging your innermost feelings out, giving a piece of yourself, no matter in which art form, in which medium.

I need to do things on my own, need to be left alone.

Yes, I guess you could say I am a loner, but I feel more lonely in a crowed room with boring people than I feel on my own.

I'm 36 and if I met a woman of my own age and married her, I'd also be marrying her former life, her past. It might be OK for some people - I don't want to judge it or anything - but it's not for me. It would destroy my creativity.