Neil Peart Quotes

The literal meaning of enthusiasm is 'infected with the god' — and if you can share that fire of yours to light someone else's, that's a great thing.

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)

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

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

To you, is it movement, or is it action?
Is it contact or just reaction?
And you, revolution, just resistance?
Is it living, or just existence? -- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)

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.

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)

The first time reggae music really got into my soul — I'll never forget, it was the Bob Marley song 'Natural Mystic,' just sitting in a car hearing it — and I suddenly got it. I got what reggae was all about.

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"

I'm a compositional drummer — and then in the same breath I thought, 'wait a minute, I want to be an improvisational drummer.' So I push myself out of my comfort zone.