Quotes from Henry Rollins

I think it's fantastic when the young enrage their elders. I really do believe that if it's too loud, you are indeed too old, and that if it has been standing for too long, it needs a thorough inspection.

The fact is, in the minds of many, Trayvon Martin received the appropriate punishment for a true crime: He was black, male and dared to walk outside. In life, young Trayvon was just a teenager; in death, he has been transformed into a scary, lurking, suspicious, prone-to-violence spook.

I'm actually on the Twitter like all those crazy young kids are, and if I'm going to do an in-store appearance or I post something on my website, I tweet these followers, a word I don't like so much, and over 50,000 people go, like, 'Okay, I got it.'

There's a lot of mountain climbers trapped inside of bodies of people behind the counter at Kinko's.

In the late summer of 1986, the band I had been in for five years stopped playing. Suddenly, I was on my own. This new state of bandlessness was, at first, traumatic. When your group breaks up, a lot of broken parts hit the ground.

I just travel the world with my backpack and my cameras and a bunch of Clif bars.

Everything I do, writing, touring, travelling, it all comes from the punk and hardcore attitude, from that expression - from being open to try things but relying on yourself, taking what you have into the battle and making of it what you will, hoping you can figure it out as you go. Make some sense of it.

I try to get myself up and moving as early as possible. Optimum is to be on the treadmill while it is still dark outside.

The only difference between me and others is that they think they can change something with cute little poems, nice cards or embracing trees and being nice to little lapdogs.

Most of the people who call me a sellout were 7 when I was down face-first in the punk trenches.

Now, if someone wants to spit on me, I just roll up the window of my BMW 540i.

It's so painful to be next to someone you feel strongly about and know you can't say the things you want to.

I wonder how Colin Powell sleeps at night. I would like to have a word with him because he lied. He lied. He lied to me. He lied to my face through the camera at the U.N.

More guns equaling more safety is a slippery slope, and what makes it so is human blood.

I have not the smarts or patience for political office.

I was in Pakistan in Islamabad when Bhutto was assassinated, and the next day, you know, there's just plumes of smoke everywhere. I mean, Islamabad is on fire.

I don't want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride.

Where there is young people and vitality, you're going to find punk rock.

I get letters from young people telling me that they're broke and download my albums for free. They ask me what I think about that. I now have a standard line. I tell them, 'I would rather be heard than paid.'

As a young person growing up in Washington, D.C., summers were hot, humid and relentless. My friends and I grew more restless and adventurous with every passing year.

I was a very repressed young person. I wasn't good at school. I didn't fit in.

As a young person, I wanted everyone to agree with me.

As a young person, I was on the road playing music, so I was getting new environments shoved in my face whether I wanted them or not.

I am not immune to the lure of a signed record, flier or set list. The fact that your music heroes potentially had, in their own hands, the record you now have in yours is kind of cool. When the musician has departed, it can give the thing a unique power.