Neil Peart Quotes

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)

Music is certainly about sharing your enthusiasm. We love our music, and we hope other people will like it too — there's nothing more calculated than that about it.

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

Magic exists, but it often requires some planning.

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

I learned a lot about character studies from watching other people — and a lot of the lyrics I've written about fame and celebrity came from witnessing how people like that behaved and handled it.

Genius is the fire that lights itself. -Commenting on Buddy Rich.

All the same we take our chances,
Laughed at by time, tricked by circumstances,
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose,
The more that things change, the more they stay the same. -- Circumstances (1978)

All the busy little creatures
chasing out their destinies.
Living in their pools
they soon forget about the sea... -- Natural Science (1980)

The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
You sometimes drive me crazy
But I worry about you
I know it makes no difference
To what you’re going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you... -- Distant Early Warning (1984)

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)

Wave after wave
Will flow with the tide
And bury the world as it does
Tide after tide
Will flow and recede
Leaving life to go on
As it was... -- Natural Science (1980)

I tend to write for a general reader — my ideal audience is someone curious and intelligent who doesn't know anything about my preoccupations — in the same way that songwriting is for an imaginary listener.

Faith is cold as ice.
Why are little ones born only to suffer
for the want of immunity, or a bowl of rice?
Well, who would hold a price on the heads of the innocent children
if there's some immortal power to control the dice? -- Roll The Bones (1991)

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)