Holly Near Quotes

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Music can be used against us as much as it can be used for us. Muzak can put a whole nation to sleep, whereas a lullaby is intended to put a child to sleep in a sweet way.

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

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

You can't just leave out one part; the bread won't rise if the yeast isn't there.

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

To my great surprise and pleasure, I have had dinner with most of the people living with whom I would like to have dinner.

The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

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

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

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

To come to a concert and hear a lot of songs from a female perspective should not make men say, 'Oh well, that's for women'.

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.

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.

The greatest warriors are the ones who fight for peace.

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

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

My parents encouraged thought. You'll get through life better if you learn how to think.

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

Part of keeping space open is not to try to choose a form - to spend more time thinking about content, and let form take care of itself.

If I didn't think and feel the way I think and feel, I couldn't sing the way I sing. And I like singing the way I sing.

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.

Language is like songs, like food, like dance-it is the expression of what we think.

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

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

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

Time has passed through me and become a song.

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.

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

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

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.

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

People love to hear the mistakes you've made.

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

Peace can start with just one heart.