Bob Dylan Quotes

You hear a lot about God these days: God, the beneficent; God, the all-great; God, the Almighty; God, the most powerful; God, the giver of life; God, the creator of death. I mean, we're hearing about God all the time, so we better learn how to deal with it. But if we know anything about God, God is arbitrary.

- Bob Dylan

Death, Deal, Almighty, Creator

I paint mostly from real life. It has to start with that. Real people, real street scenes, behind the curtain scenes, live models, paintings, photographs, staged setups, architecture, grids, graphic design. Whatever it takes to make it work.

- Bob Dylan

Behind, Real People, Mostly, Paintings

You can't be happy by doing something groovy.

- Bob Dylan

Happy, Be Happy, Doing, Groovy

Don't matter how much money you got, there's only two kinds of people: there's saved people and there's lost people.

- Bob Dylan

Saved, Matter, Kinds, How Much Money

You can't imagine parlor ballads drifting out of high-rise multi-towered buildings. That kind of music existed in a more timeless state of life.

- Bob Dylan

Kind, Imagine, Parlor, Drifting

I kinda live where I find myself.

- Bob Dylan

Myself, Find, Where, Kinda

The land created me. I'm wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I'm more at home in the vacant lots.

- Bob Dylan

More, Cities, Created, Lonesome

A poem is a naked person... Some people say that I am a poet.

- Bob Dylan

I Am, Person, Some, Poem

I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I'll die like a poet.

- Bob Dylan

Poetry, Die, Like, Musician

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.

- Bob Dylan

Believe, Seldom, Repent, Convenient

In the dime stores and bus stations, people talk of situations, read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall.

- Bob Dylan

Bus, Stores, Read, Conclusions

You're going to die. You're going to be dead. It could be 20 years, it could be tomorrow, anytime. So am I. I mean, we're just going to be gone. The world's going to go on without us. All right now. You do your job in the face of that, and how seriously you take yourself you decide for yourself.

- Bob Dylan

Die, Dead, Decide, Anytime

A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.

- Bob Dylan

Freedom, Someone, His, Understands

I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.

- Bob Dylan

Think, I Think, His, Understands

Having these colossal accolades and titles, they get in the way.

- Bob Dylan

Get, Accolades, Having, Titles

There is nothing so stable as change.

- Bob Dylan

Change, Nothing, Stable

What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

- Bob Dylan

Success, Bed, Goes, Between

My father probably thought the capital of the world was wherever he was at the time. It couldn't possibly be anyplace else. Where he and his wife were in their own home, that, for them, was the capital of the world.

- Bob Dylan

Wife, Thought, Capital, Wherever

People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around - the music and the ideas.

- Bob Dylan

Ideas, Living, Still, Scraps

Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it's like they didn't fade away at all.

- Bob Dylan

Some, Away, Like, Fade

I stopped smoking. When I stopped smoking, my voice changed... so drastically, I couldn't believe it myself.

- Bob Dylan

Voice, Smoking, Stopped, Changed

What good are fans? You can't eat applause for breakfast. You can't sleep with it.

- Bob Dylan

Sleep, Breakfast, Eat, Applause

Look, when I started out, mainstream culture was Sinatra, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Sound of Music. There was no fitting into it then and of course, there's no fitting into it now.

- Bob Dylan

Sound, Sound Of Music, Perry

If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.

- Bob Dylan

Think, Lot, Bob, None

I don't think I've ever been an agnostic. I've always thought there's a superior power, that this is not the real world and that there's a world to come.

- Bob Dylan

Think, Always, Been, Agnostic

I don't think the human mind can comprehend the past and the future. They are both just illusions that can manipulate you into thinking theres some kind of change.

- Bob Dylan

Future, Think, Comprehend, Manipulate

People have different emotional levels. Especially when you're young.

- Bob Dylan

Young, Different, Emotional, Levels

I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.

- Bob Dylan

Dreams, You, I Can, Yours

I never saw myself as a folk singer.

- Bob Dylan

Myself, Never, Singer, Folk Singer

In ceremonies of the horsemen, even the pawn must hold a grudge.

- Bob Dylan

Must, Ceremonies, Even, Grudge

Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.

- Bob Dylan

Own, Need, Basically, Order

I can't see myself singing the same song twice in a row. That's terrible.

- Bob Dylan

Song, See, Twice, Row

I say there're no depressed words just depressed minds.

- Bob Dylan

Words, Minds, Say, Depressed

I don't think I'm tangible to myself.

- Bob Dylan

Myself, Think, Tangible

I'm not a playwright.

- Bob Dylan

Playwright

I'm sick of giving creeps money off my soul.

- Bob Dylan

Money, Soul, My Soul, Creeps

Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.

- Bob Dylan

Disappear, Noticed, Being, Crucified

But even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.

- Bob Dylan

United, United States, Even, President

I realize I don't do a very good job in keeping up to date, but I try to.

- Bob Dylan

Date, Very, Keeping, Realize

Democracy don't rule the world, You'd better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that's better left unsaid.

- Bob Dylan

Democracy, Rule, Your, Unsaid

When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?

- Bob Dylan

Will, Exist, Cease, Cease To Exist

I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be.

- Bob Dylan

Beauty, Nothing, About, Prior

It's hard to speculate what tomorrow may bring.

- Bob Dylan

Tomorrow, Bring, May, Speculate

Here's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else.

- Bob Dylan

Here, Religious, Anywhere, Philosophy

Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them.

- Bob Dylan

Memories, Take Care, Take, Relive

I am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay.

- Bob Dylan

Think, Very, Which, Decay

Being on tour is like being in limbo. It's like going from nowhere to nowhere.

- Bob Dylan

Nowhere, Like, Going, Tour

Anybody can be specific and obvious. That's always been the easy way. It's not that it's so difficult to be unspecific and less obvious; it's just that there's nothing, absolutely nothing, to be specific and obvious about.

- Bob Dylan

Always, Been, Anybody, Absolutely Nothing

Colleges are like old-age homes, except for the fact that more people die in colleges.

- Bob Dylan

Die, Fact, More People, Homes

I'm just glad to be feeling better. I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon.

- Bob Dylan

Thought, Seeing, Better, Elvis

A lot of people can't stand touring but to me it's like breathing. I do it because I'm driven to do it.

- Bob Dylan

People, Breathing, Like, Touring

I'm not the kind of cat that's going to cut off an ear if I can't do something.

- Bob Dylan

Kind, Going, Cut, Ear

I like America, just as everybody else does. I love America, I gotta say that. But America will be judged.

- Bob Dylan

Love, Like, Everybody, Everybody Else

This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway.

- Bob Dylan

World, Never, Sure, Anyway

I became interested in folk music because I had to make it somehow.

- Bob Dylan

Music, Folk Music, Became, Folk

Folk music is a bunch of fat people.

- Bob Dylan

Music, Fat, Folk Music, Folk

I change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else.

- Bob Dylan

Change, Go, Somebody, Certain

It's not easy to define poetry.

- Bob Dylan

Poetry, Define, Easy

Just because you like my stuff doesn't mean I owe you anything.

- Bob Dylan

Just Because, Mean, Like, Owe

What did I owe the rest of the world? Nothing.

- Bob Dylan

Rest, World, Nothing, Owe

I have dined with kings, I've been offered wings. And I've never been too impressed.

- Bob Dylan

Never, Been, Offered, Kings

I've never written a political song. Songs can't save the world. I've gone through all that.

- Bob Dylan

Song, Through, Save, Save The World

I think a poet is anybody who wouldn't call himself a poet.

- Bob Dylan

Think, Call, Himself, Poet

I really didn't consider myself happy or unhappy.

- Bob Dylan

Happy, Myself, Unhappy, Consider

I'm speaking for all of us. I'm the spokesman for a generation.

- Bob Dylan

Generation, Us, Speaking, Spokesman

To live outside the law, you must be honest.

- Bob Dylan

Law, Honest, Must, Outside

Yesterday's just a memory, tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be.

- Bob Dylan

Memory, Never, Yesterday, Supposed

A mistake is to commit a misunderstanding.

- Bob Dylan

Mistake, Commit, Misunderstanding

I accept chaos, I'm not sure whether it accepts me.

- Bob Dylan

Chaos, Sure, Whether, Accepts

The radio makes hideous sounds.

- Bob Dylan

Radio, Makes, Hideous, Sounds

The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.

- Bob Dylan

Believe, I Believe, Songs, I Believe The

The people in my songs are all me.

- Bob Dylan

Me, People, Songs

You just don't wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.

- Bob Dylan

Wake Up, Need, One Day, Songs

My songs always sound a lot better in person than they do on the record.

- Bob Dylan

Better, Always, Lot, Songs

Some formulas are too complex and I don't want anything to do with them.

- Bob Dylan

Some, Too, Formulas, Complex

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.

- Bob Dylan

Truth, World, Big, Adds

A song is anything that can walk by itself.

- Bob Dylan

Song, Anything, Itself, Walk

I'm mortified to be on the stage, but then again, it's the only place where I'm happy.

- Bob Dylan

Happy, Stage, Again, Mortified

My range is limited.

- Bob Dylan

Limited, Range

Money doesn't talk, it swears.

- Bob Dylan

Money, Talk

All this talk about equality. The only thing people really have in common is that they are all going to die.

- Bob Dylan

Equality, Die, Going, Talk

Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it.

- Bob Dylan

Find, Come, Take, Inspiration

Chaos is a friend of mine.

- Bob Dylan

Chaos, Mine, Friend

You learn from a conglomeration of the incredible past - whatever experience gotten in any way whatsoever.

- Bob Dylan

Learn, Whatsoever, Gotten, Incredible

I felt like I might as well have been living in another part of the solar system.

- Bob Dylan

Living, Like, Been, System

A lot of people don't like the road, but it's as natural to me as breathing.

- Bob Dylan

Natural, Like, Lot, Breathing

He not busy being born is busy dying.

- Bob Dylan

Life, Dying, Born, Busy

All I can do is be me, whoever that is.

- Bob Dylan

Me, I Can, Whoever

I'm more of an adventurous type than a relationship type.

- Bob Dylan

More, Than, Type, Adventurous

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.

- Bob Dylan

Sky, Free, Even, Chained

I can be jubilant one moment and pensive the next, and a cloud could go by and make that happen.

- Bob Dylan

Cloud, Next, Happen, I Can

I can't stand to see myself on television.

- Bob Dylan

Myself, Stand, See, Television

At times in my life the only place I have been happy is when I am on stage.

- Bob Dylan

Happy, My Life, Been, Times

Well, the future for me is already a thing of the past.

- Bob Dylan

Future, Past, Me, Well

I can't act!

- Bob Dylan

Act

Nothing can affect my voice, it's so bad.

- Bob Dylan

Voice, Bad, Nothing, Affect

Death to me means nothing as long as I can die fast.

- Bob Dylan

Death, Die, Means, Fast

You can't do something forever.

- Bob Dylan

You, Something, Forever

You call yourself what you want to call yourself.

- Bob Dylan

Yourself, Want, You, Call

I'm inconsistent, even to myself.

- Bob Dylan

Myself, Even, Inconsistent

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