Quotes from Phil Ochs

God isn't dead - he's just missing in action.

And if there's any hope for America, it lies in a revolution, and if there's any hope for a revolution in America, it lies in getting Elvis Presley to become Che Guevara.

You can do right or you can do what you are told. And the prize of the victory will belong to the bold.

The people who carried the burden, who marked in strange field in search of an answer, and ended their journeys an unwilling hero.

In the town of Bethlehem many years ago, a man got religion and he changed the status quo.

God help the troubadour who tries to be a star. The more that you try to find success, the more that you will fail.

The fortunes of the entire world may well ride on the ability of young Americans to face the responsibilities of an old America gone mad.

Does defending liberalism leave you friendless and perhaps wondering about your breath?

Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make the attempt. That's morality, that's religion, that's art, that's life.

Love is a rainbow curving down from the sky, falling crystals of color, shades of warm that never die.

Well I've seen travel in many waysI've traveled in cars and old subwaysBut in Birmingham some people choseTo fly down the street from a fire hose.Doin' some hard travelin'...from hydrants of plenty.

Call it peace or call it treason / call it love or call it reason / but I ain't marching anymore

Only as strong as our love for this land, only as tall as we stand.

When they show the destruction of society on color TV, I want to be able to look out over Los Angeles and make sure they get it right.

Leaving America is like losing twenty pounds and finding a new girlfriend.

It's always the old to lead us to the war. It's always the young to fall.

In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.

Step outside the guidelines of the official umpires and make your own rules and your own reality.

If you ever get a war without blood and gore, well, I'll be the first to go.

The final story, the final chapter of Western man, I believe, lies in Los Angeles.

Show me the prison, Show me the jail, Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale. And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why And there, but for fortune, go you or I.

There is an urgent need for Americans to look deeply into themselves and their actions, and musical poetry is perhaps the most effective mirror available. Every newspaper headline is a potential song.

I wonder who I left behind on the other side of fame.

She's staring down her desires, while they're staring down her dress.