C. L. R. James Quotes

My skills are not of the highest caliber, but I know a thing or two, and I occasionally produce a painting that contains passages of truth and beauty.

Once energy problems gain traction, there will be a large new class of economic losers, and consequently a lot of social turbulence.

I am far less interested in serving as a change agent than in functioning as a prose artist, whether it's fiction or nonfiction.

There's no such thing as a wasted wish.

So does being cool mean you get to go around calling other people names?

So, this is a rabbit, I thought. He sort of looks like Chester, only he's got longer ears and a shorter tail. And a motor in his nose.

He can hardly be a true friend to another, who is an enemy to himself.

Proverbs may not improperly be called the philosophy of the common people.

All we can do is be better prepared today than yesterday and better prepared tomorrow than today.

Words and works eat not at one table.

Distance sometimes endears friendships, and sweetens it - for separation from those we love shows us, by the loss, their real value and dearness to us.

He that hath money in his purse cannot want a head for his shoulders.

We are saved from nothing if we are not saved from sin.

Owe money at Easter and Lent will seem short to thee.

Love is the life of friendship.

Little sins are pioneers of hell.

In time of prosperity friends will be plenty; In time of adversity not one in twenty.

Man's best candle is his understanding.

God guard me from my friends, for I shall guard myself from my enemies.

Liszt's so-called piano music is nothing but Chopin and brandy.

The chaste woman who teases is worse than a streetwalker.

There are people who don't say a thing and sound magnificent!

Married men make the best husbands.

A rut... is little more than a coffin with the ends kicked out.

Leadership is character in action.

For me, hearing the term 'apply yourself' was like a crucifix to Bella Lugosi's Dracula. 'Ahhh, it burns!'

I'm conscious enough that how I'm singing is not my own accent.

If I sang the way I talk it would sound like "Tommy Steele sings Muddy Waters!"

Because I'm English, I try not to make any purely American references, because I want to limit how much I'm pretending to be American.

I get influenced by stuff that isn't even music.

It's when you are trying to make something that is "authentic" as opposed to real - people who appreciate music for the wrong reasons tend to compartmentalize stuff.

If you are approaching the music with more reverence than the original guys invested into it, you are effectively doing it a disservice.

He walked with long, ungraceful strides, enormous feet adding to the spectacle, and he sat a horse as if leaning into a strong wind.

I think if you're able to make the music you want and you can do it in the right kind of context, you don't have to be a circus ringleader to be successful.

I like the challenges of doing different things. It keeps things fresh for me.

I'm happy doing different things. Being in a band is great, but being in a band can be difficult sometimes.

All of the music works on its own, but it doesn't really make as much sense without the picture.

Well, I always hope that I'm a role model.

All the bands I've played with have had dynamic front men.

My first job in NYC was playing a gig in the early nineties at CBGBs.

The band set up in January and just started rehearsing. If there was a song, we'd just rehearse it as a band, and it would get arranged as a band, and it got changed around a lot.

Composing is just another exciting thing. It's as exciting as being in a band. It's kind of like joining a new band for three months.

I mean I like pop music, and I like heavy music and, stuff that I like... the band I've signed on to our label right now; they're called The Sounds. They're kind of like a new-wave pop band.

If you put all the songs together that I've written on band records, and put it up next to my solo record, there's definitely a different kind of feel than Billy's songs.

I like a lot of different kinds of music. I like strong projects, big music.

Yeah, I'm sure there are stereotypes of Asian people.

I'd like to keep doing film and TV, and I definitely can appreciate a good theme song. If it's memorable, that's a great thing.

It's great working with directors and with somebody else's vision.

It's much easier to work on other people's music and play in other people's bands as a guitar player instead of being the main songwriter and singer. That's a really big job to do that.

I play and I've played in heavy bands, but when I write for myself, I don't particularly feel like writing huge rock riffs. It just doesn't work for me and my voice.