Dave Matthews Quotes

The idea of God as a fatherly figure who looks down on us and worries about how we're doing or takes sides when we have fights - it's more irritating than Santa Claus. The world and the universe are far more wonderful if there's not a puppet master.

It's a melting pot, southern Africa. You find these cultural collisions that result in art and music, and it's pretty amazing.

The reason I play music is to touch people - for selfish reasons, as well. It feels good to make someone else feel something, whether it's a kiss, a painting, good idea or it's a song.

What I want is what I've not got, but what I need is all around me.

A dream is a massive magic trick of the mind. No amount of science could explain away the mysterious wonder.

Tomorrow is no place to place your better days.

When you can no longer differentiate between the insanity spewed onto the blank page, and the madness evident in the all-but shattered mirror...that's when you know you're doing it right.

If I find something I like, I'll chase it and see what comes out the other side. Once a song gets momentum and gets away from you, that's a good sign.

Nine planets round the sun, only one does the sun embrace. Upon this watered one, so much we take for granted; So let us sleep outside tonight, lay down in our mother's arms, for here we can rest safely ... One sweet world around a star is spinning One sweet world And in her breath I'm swimming, and here we will rest in peace.

I hate to admit it, but we're badass.

I don't feel like I'm standing in a position where I have some right above other people to say what I think. We should all be talking to each other about what we think is important - whether we're in politics, or whether we're checking out at a grocery store. We shouldn't put walls up between each other.

Because life is short but sweet for certain We're climbing two by two To be sure these days continue These things we cannot change

For me, in songwriting, I have a route I can take. Maybe there's some forks, I can go this way, this way. But I know those roads. I still have the experience behind me.

In many instances, we are much better at fixing our mistakes after we've made them. In some situations, it is easier to sweep things under the rug and forget about them.

A lot of the time, I write a lot of angry stuff, but then I don't want to be a finger-pointer - I'd rather be a cheerleader than a judge. I don't want to preach as if I'm in some position of righteousness, but I do want to speak my mind and scream at the clouds and shout out of the pit of hopelessness that I sometimes think the human race is in.

What in the world would I sing for if I had it all?

I do still get shocked every once in a while when I catch my reflection when I'm walking past a glass building, but it's in my mind about getting older and finding out what I'm going to look like as it unfolds - or as it folds, depending on where the marks and scars land.

I don't want to die, obviously, but really, the wonder of life is amplified by the fact that it ends.

We look to our leaders once we elect them to either lead us in the right direction or at least not crush us.

It's funny, I get a little quieter with time. I don't want to chase my tail and one day repeat myself and repeat myself and one day have kids going to college and not have memories that I should, because I was too busy doing my thing.

Every day things change, but basically they stay the same.

I grew up in a very politically aware family. My mother always taught me to question everything, never believing anything simply at face value - especially the nicest, most adamant politicians.

When I don't say a word and you know exactly what I mean.

Success turns a lot of people off. I have a pretty solid sense of joy and respect that irritates people, and can irritate me, too.

I feel that I have worked my whole life to get to the point where I should have a good understanding of women.

Everything good needs replacing

So often we talk about saving the planet, but what we really mean is to save the planet the way it is, so we can live here. So that is can sustain us.

I don't think socialism, and I don't think warmness and respect are necessarily bad words.

How we can stay faithful to the people that have supported us from the beginning is a thought in my mind. I always want to keep that part of it alive.

My reaction to Radiohead isn't as simple as jealousy. Jealousy just burns; Radiohead infuriate me. But if it were only that, I wouldn't go back and listen to those records again and again. Listening to Radiohead makes me fell like I'm a Salieri to their Mozart. Yorke's lyrics make me want to give up. I could never in my wildest dreams find something as beautiful as they find for a single song - let alone album after album.

I never went to college - I barely got out of high school.

I think making things that aren't necessarily shiny, happy feelings, putting them in that environment is sometimes an easy way to deal with the ugliness. Like, I know that as a kid, that I found - I think I learned this a bit from my mother - that if I could be as warm around strangers, no matter how strange or what different environment I was in, that people tended to be warm back.

Take what you can from your dreams, Make them as real as anything...

Funny the way it is, not right or wrong, somebody's heart is broken, and it becomes your favorite song.

I'm a bit of a caveman - I don't go out into the digital space very often. I lie facedown on the grass and count how many bugs I can find.

I can't believe that we would lie in our graves wondering if we had spent our living days well. I can't believe that we would lie in our graves dreaming of things that we might have been.

We have to do much more than believe if we really want to change things.

My songs are like a three-legged dog - you have to get to know them to have any love for them.

Being able to scream at the top of my lungs in front of people is very therapeutic. It is a great gift for me to be able to do that.