Neil Peart Quotes

Unstable condition
A symptom of life
In mental and environmental change
Atmospheric disturbance
The feverish flux
Of human interface and interchange -- Vital Signs (1981)

No hero in your tragedy,
No daring in your escape,
No salutes for your surrender,
Nothing noble in your fate,
Christ, what have you done? -- The Pass (1989)

When we are young
Wandering the face of the Earth
Wondering what our dreams might be worth
Learning that we're only immortal
For a limited time -- Dreamline (1991)

Features distorted in the flickering light
Faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
The mob moves like demons possessed Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best -- Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1981)

I feel the sense of possibilities
I feel the wrench of hard realities
The focus is sharp in the city -- The Camera Eye (1981)

Among the people whose thinking I like is Ayn Rand, but there are a whole lot of others. It's a kind of disciple mentality that people are applying to me that they think I applied to her and it's all wrong. I'm nobody's disciple and you know 'No god, no government' none of that, so I don't like it applied to me any more than to them.

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)

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)

Miracles will have their claimers
More will bow to Rome
He and she are in the house
But there's only me at home. -- Anagram (For Mongo) (1989)

A scorching blast of golden fire as it slowly leaves the ground
Tears away with a mighty force
The air is shattered by the awesome sound -- Countdown (1982)

I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate, Are the liberators here?
Do I hope or do I fear?
For my father and my brother, it’s too late but I must help my mother stand up straight.
Are we the last ones left alive?
Are we the only human beings to survive? -- Red Sector A (1984)

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)

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)

There's no bread, let 'em eat cake
There's no end to what they'll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth -- Bastille Day (1975)

Cast in this unlikely role
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact -- Limelight (1981)