Holly Near Quotes

When we make mistakes, say, I'm blessed that I have an opportunity to learn from this.

People love to hear the mistakes you've made.

To be always in a state of wonder is a kind of sensitivity that can sometimes be an extraordinary blessing and sometimes a real pain.

Leaping away from my mistakes has propelled me forward. It has great force behind it. It makes for great storytelling.

In less than a century we experienced great movement. The youth movement! The labor movement! The civil rights movement! The peace movement! The solidarity movement! The women's movement! The disability movement! The disarmament movement! The gay rights movement! The environmental movement! Movement! Transformation! Is there any reason to believe we are done?

A lot of artists say, I'm not political. People are afraid of this word.

When an audience comes to one of my concerts, I hope they'll see themselves, somewhere, in one of the songs.

Poverty without a people's government looks like hopelessness, but to see poverty in organized communities is to see relief-in-progress.

Like any art, the creation of self is both natural and seemingly impossible. It requires training as well as magic.

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?

I like this life. I like it when it's hard, and I like it better when it's not, but I know you don't get the sweet part without the bitter.

Often thoughts are given to me with the sole purpose of giving them away.

Part of being an artist is being willing to be shocked, being willing to be surprised, being willing to be hurt.

When I am willing, all sound is available to me.

Peace can start with just one heart.

I don't believe in nirvana. If nirvana was handed to us on a silver platter, this would be the first day of our struggle to keep it.

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

We who are interested in relative truth have to keep digging for it and not let ourselves be sucked under.

It is essential that men start being interested in and excited by how women think.

White middle- and upper-class men have a longer journey to go than many people.

I'm not allowing my perspective to be dictated by the dominant culture.

In my life, the stories I have heard from my family, my friends, my community, and from willing strangers all over the world have been the true source of my education.

You can kill that man but not his song, When it's sung the whole world round...

Once women are not excluded, I don't think any of us will give a damn what pronouns are used. That wasn't the point.

Something happens to me when I witness someone's courage. They may not know I'm watching and I might not let them know. But something happens to me that will last me for a lifetime. To fill me when I'm empty, and rock me when I'm low.

Whenever new ideas emerge, songs soon follow, and before long the songs are leading.

My creativity and my political work are linked. I don't do this work out of guilt or out of responsibility.

Time has passed through me and become a song.

I am selfish. I reach for the world I want to live in. And I believe in leaving our best we can do to our children

You just keep feeding hogwash to people, and pretty soon they'll eat it.

The greatest warriors are the ones who fight for peace.

It doesn't take long to sum up the major theses of most popular music: he loves me; he left me; I need him; I needed him, but now I need his best friend. Rather limited scope.

The women's movement completely changed attitudes all over the world in ways we'll never be able to count.

All my life I have gone out on a limb, but I have turned the limb into a bridge, and there is cool, clear water flowing under.

My voice is my instrument. ... It is not in the throat, from where it appears to come. It is in my feet and how they touch the floor, in my legs and how they lift and sink with the rhythm of the song. It is in my hips and belly and lower back.