I never took guitar lessons. I took classical piano lessons from the age of six when we lived in Holland.

Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die.

To hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is.

If I can help a kid discover a liking, or even a passion for music in their life, then that’s a wonderful thing.

My son, Wolfgang, plays drums, guitars and bass.

It's always about the music, never about anything else.

Music kept me off the streets and out of trouble and gave me something that was mine that no one could take away from me.

You know, most people, they want to go to Hollywood. They want to be a star. They want to be a rock star. That thought never entered any of our minds, the Van Halen family.

When Van Halen started out, there was no path to fame. We just played what we liked. Even today it always comes down to the simplicity of rock and roll.

Imagine if Beethoven had a tape recorder. Then you'd know exactly what he meant. Maybe he meant 'Da da da da' instead of 'Boom boom boom boom!' Who knows?

Sometimes I just want to lick David Lee Roth in the nuts

We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

Freedom without virtue isn't freedom - it will eventually destroy a society.

Do you know how much thinking and feeling I’ve done? It’s terrible. And nothing’s come of it.

I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments. That's no contribution to society. [Tennis] was purely selfish; that was for me.

The bold are helpless without cleverness.

Never take what's offered, always ask for more.

New York at night, from its bridges, is a miracle. When I first came to the city, it took all my fantasies and set them on fire, turned them into flickering constellations of light.

I know these days it sounds a little odd, but American governments are very fearful of European reaction. They were afraid we would be considered gunslingers.

We are what we are, because of the vibrations of thought which we pick up and register, through the stimuli of our daily environment.