Mike Ness Quotes

Stop contemplating and start celebratingYeah, you gotta live before you die.

I do feel like, now, approaching fifty, I am definitely at a crossroads and having to reevaluate things and look at things. It's time for more change, and that's good.

Best things in life aren't things.

When I see everyone doing the same thing, I want to do the opposite.

As time goes on you are given responsibility and other things to deal with. You become a husband and a father and there's another shirt of stuff.

I went to yoga for six months straight, but that was about five years ago! I've been trying to get back. I probably could've seen the President five times, it'd be easier than it has been to get back to yoga!

I got tattoos for purely antisocial reasons, and now people do it for social acceptance. I miss the individualism.

There are those uncomfortable things that've passed that you have to deal with or they define you, like childhood trauma. Like when I'm lost, I just feel like somewhere along the line, if you've gone through any childhood trauma, it makes you lose your essence and it takes a while to get that back. There are certain things about that that push my buttons.

The attitude is in my personality. It's going to come out in the songs no matter what. If you're pushing the vocal constantly at 10, there's no room for any dynamics. There's no room for any variation in tone. There's no room for anything.

I feel that if you're in the public eye in any way that you do have a little bit of influence on people.

We`re not here for a long time, we`re here for a good time / Reach For the Sky, 'cause tomorrow may never come.

I do know that love, whether you're giving it or receiving it, or both, it is the ultimate healer.

I think, honestly, that ego makes you most vulnerable. When you are in humility you are much more comfortable, open and okay with BEING vulnerable, whereas the ego is the protecter, and even though you think you're protecting, I think you are more vulnerable if you're in ego.

Whether you're going through fear, whether you're going through pain, or whether you're going through anything, love is the best healer and the most powerful thing in the world.

I've never been a flag waver, but I can lead by example.

I was taught early on in my recovery that, 'Pain is good. Extreme pain is extremely good.'

I think I'm probably going to have more luck on tour, on the road, than I am at home, because as hectic as traveling can be, I have a little bit more control, for life situations out there on the road. It's the one aspect of my life I feel like I do have some control of. I can wake up in my hotel room, I'm alone and I can ease into the day and do what I need to do. It's not like I've got to get up and drive the kids to school, feed the dog, get to the gym, go to practice, go pay a bill, you know what I mean?

I have fantasy jobs like working in retail at a department store just selling rich housewives outfits and saying 'this looks fabulous on you! Let me find a matching handbag!' Then, the other is being like some sort of Vice or taskforce, law enforcement, undercover [person]. Or possibly someday becoming a guerilla activist - I'm kind of in-training for that now anyways. So, maybe my retirement will be jumping on ships, kidnapping, and [participating in] espionage. I still fantasize.

You have to be open, and being open is a daily challenge, I think.

I think you never want to limit yourself to one style of anything. Why put those limitations on yourself?

No one would barbecue their family dog. Why is a cow or a pig or a chicken different?

I wake up to my three dogs and my wife in bed and the kids, and those are the best gifts that I have.

There's something about playing every night, it becomes easy and it becomes fun. I love being up there and playing for different crowds every night.