Neil Peart Quotes

How can anybody be enlightened?
Truth is after all so poorly lit -- Turn The Page (1987)

Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw -- The Trees (1978)

Danger plus survival equals fun. --From A Work in Progress

No one gets to their heaven without a fight -- Armor and Sword (2007)

The middle aged madonna
calls her neighbor on the phone.
Day by day, the seasons pass
and leave her life alone.
But she'll go walking out that door
on some bright afternoon
to go and paint big cities
from a lonely attic room. -- Middletown Dreams (1985)

Like a steely blade in a silken sheath
We don't see what they're made of
They shout about love, but when push comes to shove
They live for the things they're afraid of And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them...
- The Weapon (Part II of 'Fear') (1982)

I define my approach to each day I am given as, "What is the most excellent thing I can do today?" – from the book "Far and Near: On Days Like These"

Quick to judge -- Quick to anger -- Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand -- Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1981)

A few guys with guns can spoil everything. -- The Masked Rider (1996)

It takes a little more persistence to get up and go the distance
I'm not giving in
I'm not missing out
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams -- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)

Sometimes I freeze...until the light comes
Sometimes I fly...into the night
Sometimes I fight...against the darkness
Sometimes I'm wrong...sometimes I'm right -- Freeze (Part IV of 'Fear') (2002)

Adventures suck when you're having them. -- Roadshow (2006)

An ounce of perception, a pound of obscure
Process information at half speed
Pause, rewind, replay
Warm memory chip
Random sample, hold the one you need -- Vital Signs (1981)

Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die, then never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee... -- Losing It (1982)

Anarchist reactionary, running-dog revisionist
Hindu, Muslim, Catholic creation, evolutionist
Rational, romantic, mystic, cynical, idealist
Minimal expressionist, post-modern neo-symbolist Armchair rocket scientist, graffiti existentialist
Deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist
Be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop, lite-pop-metallist
Gold adult contemporary, urban country capitalist -- You Bet Your Life (1991)