Lou Reed Quotes

But I found tai chi when I was studying with Leung Shum, who teaches Eagle Claw and Wu Hao.

But it's the things that preceded it that made that happen, and of course now someone like me thinks, well, if I can do that... then there are a lot of other things that are possible.

I'm writing about real things. Real people. Real characters. You have to believe what I write about is true or you wouldn't pay any attention at all.

To wish for the crazy times one last time and freeze it in the memory of a camera is the least a great artist can do.

I don't think anybody is anybody else's moral compass. Maybe listening to my music is not the best idea if you live a very constricted life. Or maybe it is.

I've always believed that there's an amazing number of things you can do through a rock'n'roll song and that you can do serious writing in a rock song if you can somehow do it without losing the beat.

You know, when you're relaxed, you're putting it out there, and then it comes, oh, I can do that.

Take a walk on the wild side.

Let's do what you fear most That from which you recoil But which still makes your eyes moist

Bodily changes take place, like the thing with the kick.

If it has more than three chords, it's jazz.

You can't beat two guitars, bass, and drums.

I can't tell the difference between wrong and right, are you laughing at me?

I love Ornette Coleman. I love Don Cherry. I love the way those guys play.

The president's dead, no one can find his head, its been missing for two weeks. But no one seemed to notice it.

I've gone out with my shotgun. This is hunting country out there. You better run.

Valium would have helped that bash.

I wanna hear some Diana Ross, I wanna hear some Marvin Gaye. I wanna hear a song that reminds me of a better day.

When I record an album I'm trying to get as close as possible to that perfect moment.

When the past makes you laugh and you can savor the magic that lets you survive your own war, you'll find that that fire is passion and there's a door up ahead - not a wall.

You know, some people got no choice, and they can never find a voice, to talk with that they can even call their own. So the first thing that they see, that allows them the right to be, why they follow it, you know, it's called bad luck.

I wouldn't want to hear Beethoven without beautiful bass, the cellos, the tuba. It's very important. Hip-hop has thunderous bass. And so does Beethoven. If you don't have the bass, it's like being amputated. It's like you have no legs.

Music was what bothered me, what interested me.

I want the principles of a timeless muse, I want to eradicate my negative views.

Underachievers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose except your fright.

Dear Pope, send me some hope or a rope.

Caroline says as she gets up from the floor, you can hit me all you want to, but I don't love you anymore.

When critics ask you if you feel vindicated by other critics - I didn't like critics then, and I don't like them now. There you go. I've always been outside the mainstream, and it stayed that way.

My God is rock'n'roll. It's an obscure power that can change your life. The most important part of my religion is to play guitar.

This violent rage that turned inward cannot be helped by drink.

Well, everybody does something, some people race cars, others collect stamps, I find tai chi to be philosophically, aesthetically, physically and spiritually fascinating.

Meditation doesn't have to be complicated. What I do is about as simple as you can get. You could just count the beads, one, two, three, with your eyes closed or open, whatever makes you happy.

I cleaned up my act because otherwise I would have kicked the bucket.

It's interesting to have a conglomeration of people that covers the strata from A to Z... There's a certain element of the audience that's intellectually oriented, into the lyrics... then there's another element of the audience that's into a sex trip. I'm into both of them.

There's only X amount of time. You can do whatever you want with that time. It's your time.

I like druggy downtown kids who spray paint walls and trains. I like their lack of training, their primitive technique. I think it hurts you, when you stay too long in school.

I always believed that I have something important to say and I said it.

Does anyone need yet another politician caught with his pants down and money sticking in his hole?

I've made love to my mother, killed my father, and my brother. What am I to do?

I was a product of Andy Warhol's Factory. All I did was sit there and observe these incredibly talented and creative people who were continually making art, and it was impossible not to be affected by that.

As you practice things, you get better. I mean I've worked very hard on changing my life and taking what is good about it and trying to jettison the things I think were not good about it. I think the key word is "discipline," focus. I'm always working at it, but I'm not always successful.

I think it's important that people don't feel alone.

You've gotta blow the roof off of your heart and let the universe in.

Psychologically, it's better that I think that I'm dirt.

I'm not leaving New York. And neither is anyone else. We're here. We are quintessential Americans - we're not only American, but New York-American.

All the people have gone to war leaving no interrogator to mind.

You do what you love, or you get arrested.

But I'm also talented and I know when I created something great and Perfect Night is something great, no doubt, no but.