Maynard James Keenan Quotes

Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing.

A circle is the reflection of eternity. It has no beginning and it has no end - and if you put several circles over each other, then you get a spiral.

This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality. Embrace this moment, remember: we are eternal all this pain is an illusion.

Life is too short not to create something with every breath we draw.

People have to follow their hearts, and if their hearts lead them to Wal-Mart, so be it.

Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here

Desert, in generally, is a very good place to find yourself. Or lose yourself.

Once you take yourself too seriously the art will suffer.

If you take different mythologies from different cultures, the names may change and the story lines may vary but there is always something in common.

The trick is to use the drugs once to get there, and maybe spend the next ten years trying to get back there without the drug.

Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion between supposed lovers

People get upset and it becomes an excuse to treat other people a certain way,but if you really step back, you realize what you've left behind.

I'm a pessimist. But I'm a pessimist with a sense of responsibility.

Just in general, any government throughout history hasn't really wanted its people to be educated, because then they couldn't control them as easily.

Finding beauty in the dissonance.

We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion.

Music is about listening, the more you play, the more the magic spreads.

I believe that music is a force in itself. It is there and it needs an outlet, a medium. In a way, we are just the medium.

I think that people get outraged over things. I think what we really need is a kind of borderline extinction level event to get people back to caring about what really matters.

I just hope that our fans are people who are inspired by music, and just use our music as a background or inspiration for whatever it is they do.

Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing.

Every now and then, you get people who tend to forget what this country is about, which is a melting pot of races and cultures and freedom of speech.

Because artists can be extremely eccentric and insane, and unfortunately, the people they hurt the most are the people that are closest to them.

I would hope they would be our fellow artists, rather than trying to emulate or idolize clowns like us.

Yeah, because I think it's more important just to inspire people to wake up one day and pick up a book and start feeling it out for themselves.

You really should be able to feel the higher power of music and be moved by it, rather than listening to me waffle on and having to explain it.

But you know, I'm the negative-Nancy, curmudgeon, glass-half-empty-with-a-leak-in-it guy - which is basically the fuel that fires me up anyway. Without that, we wouldn't have me.

I'm not an educated man. I only know what I'm told, and I'm not told that much; I have no frame of reference for how to place things in history be a responsible leader. All I can do is be an artist.

Shows are really strange. Sometimes you really don't know what to expect

A lot of people into Tool, for some reason, are not interested in humor.

Knuckle deep inside the borderline. This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to. Relax. Slip away.

Liar, lawyer, mirror show me. What’s the difference?

I've always had an affinity for growing things.

But I'm a hot-blooded Italian by nature. Whatever the situation you present, I'm going to make something out of it.

I feel like there's no real innovation in having some music. It's more just unique personalities and unique expressions, and you being able to tell your story.

Jesus Christ, why dont you come save my life. Open my eyes and blind me with your light and your lies.

Choices always were a problem for you. What you need is someone strong to guide you. Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow, what you need is someone strong to use you - like me.

I think the biggest problem working with me would be that I'm an only child, and so I have an internal dialogue that goes on that I just assume you can hear.

Prescott National Forest is right on the edge of my home in Arizona.

I feel like with music there's so much ego rooted in expressing your thoughts and your experiences with it.

Life feeds on life... feeds on life feeds on life... this is neccesary... this is necessary life feeds on life... feeds on life

Why did Father give these humans free will? Now they're all confused.

Because as an only child, you have your own little world.

Actors have these delicate appendages called Egos.

Seems like Ive been here before. Seems so familiar. Seems like Im slipping into a dream within a dream.

We're five people, five individuals who came together to create something, to make music and to complete each other musically, to form a perfect circle.

And if you don't live, you have nothing to write about.

For me, life is writing and I can do it anywhere. It doesn't matter where I am. I listen. I write. I live.

The record company's worst fear is that you'll fall in love or get rich.

Nowadays, you have to sell, like, half a million or a million records just to break even.