Warren Zevon Quotes

We buy books because we believe we're buying the time to read them.

I saw a Werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand

All I can say is what I've always said: If you break your leg, stop thinking about dancing and start decorating the cast.

Enjoy every sandwich.

I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins, I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in.

They say love conquers all You can't start it like a car You can't stop it with a gun.

If you won't leave me, I'll find someone who will.

People write because it seems like it'll be an easier job than carpet laying, that they might meet more girls. And they write because the world strikes them as being a marvelous place, and they want to keep bringing that to everybody's attention. You know ~ a scary place, a menacing place, an exciting place because it's scary and menacing. But mainly, kind of glorious.

There's nothing romantic, nothing grand, nothing heroic, nothing brave, nothing like that about drinking. It's a real coward's death.

But there's a thin line between songwriting and arranging. ... Recording at home enables one to eliminate the demo stage, and the presentation stage in the studio, too. ... And I think it's safe to say that the single very impressive figure to me was Merle Haggard. ... Dylan can do no wrong. ... Glenn Gould was my hero. Glenn Gould was my idol. I loved him. ... I loved Hendrix. I mean, really, really loved him. As if he were one of the great classical composers. And he was. That's how I saw him.

When I was young, times were hard. When I got older it was worse.

To me, the message of my songs, of all songs, is "enjoy life." My message as a person who evidently doens't have much more planned is the same. It's the only message I ever thought art had any business having.

I wrote my songs despite the fact that I was a drunk, not because of it.

Glenn Gould was my hero. Glenn Gould was my idol. I loved him.

I got to be Jim Morrison a lot longer than he did.

You can dream the American Dream But you sleep with the lights on And wake up with a scream

I write songs about things that I'm simultaneously trying not to think about.

I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Everywhere I go, I have my little Steinberger, and I like it very well.

I mean, I haven't been completely lacking in some enjoyment of Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly. But I just didn't pay attention to that period of music, obviously.

Maybe you simply criticized someone you hardly knew. You ruined part of their life. For them, part of your life, too.

It's hard to find a girl with a heart of gold, when you're living in a four letter world.

And if California slides into the ocean, as the mystics and statistics say it will, I predict this hotel will be standing until I've paid my bill.

LeRoy says there's something you should know, not everybody has a place to go. And home is just a place to hang your head, and dream of things to do in Denver when you're dead.

I'd like to go back to Paris someday and visit the Lourve museum, get a good running start, and hurl myself at the wall.

Little old lady got mutilated late last night, werewolves of London, again.

I like wherever I am. That's my big secret.

The hurt gets worse as the heart grows harder.

I've been to Paris. And it ain't that pretty at all.

Recording at home enables one to eliminate the demo stage, and the presentation stage in the studio, too.

My memory is not even what most peoples is, much less what it oughta be for a discussion like this.

That's my only active wish. I think if I sang like Don Henley, this would be a lot more agreeable business.

My father was a boxer, though. So, I have a particular interest in Ray Mancini, I think.

And I think it's safe to say that the single very impressive figure to me was Merle Haggard.

The primary one being, like I said, I don't like rock 'n' roll piano.

I loved Hendrix. I mean, really, really loved him. As if he were one of the great classical composers. And he was. That's how I saw him.

You put more value on every minute...You know I always kinda thought I did that. I really always enjoyed myself. But it's more valuable now. You're reminded to enjoy every sandwich and every minute.

I might have made a tactical error not going to a physician for 20 years. It was one of those phobias that didn't pay off.

Speaking as one who has abused privilege a long time, I tell you, it's great to be alive.

Well, I don't think it ever did, but in the early '60s I got interested in folk music.

Sickness, doctors, that scares me, not violence -- helplessness. That's why I turn to violent stories.

Mutineer is the first album of mine without a demo stage.

I lay my head on the railroad track, waitin' on the Double E. But the train don't run by here no more, poor, poor, pitiful me.

I don't like piano solos.

It just sort of happened. I wrote like what I'd always read and what was in the movies... I'm sure popular music is supposed to be like this.

I have no guitar technique.

Piano is like drudgery.

I played a lot of real normal, straight sessions.

Dylan doesn't have to make Blonde On Blonde every time.

Duncan Aldrich has been my partner in most recording projects, and touring projects, for the past decade.