106+ Neil Peart Quotes On Drumming, Music

Neil Peart was a Canadian musician, best known as the drummer and lyricist for the rock band Rush. He was widely considered one of the greatest drummers of all time, and his style of drumming was very influential in the progressive rock genre. He wrote several books about his travels and was an advocate for environmental and humanitarian causes. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Neil Peart on life, drumming, music.

Top 10 Neil Peart Quotes

1. If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
2. Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand... prejudice, fear and ignorance walk hand-in-hand.
3. I think everything I do has Howard Roark [hero of The Fountainhead] in it, you know, as much as anything. The person I write for is Howard Roark.
4. Playing a three-hour Rush show is like running a marathon while solving equations.
5. Waiting for the winds of change to sweep the clouds away. Waiting for the rainbow's end to cast its gold your way ... You don't get something for nothing. You can't have freedom for free
6. What is a master but a master student? And if that's true, then there's a responsibility on you to keep getting better and to explore avenues of your profession.
7. I remain the optimist: you just do your best and hope for the best. But it's an evolving state of mind.
8. Stamina is the force that drives the drumming; it's not really a sprint.
9. Living in the limelight: the universal dream for those who wish to SEEM. Those who wish to BE, must put aside the alienation, get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme.
10. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

Neil Peart Short Quotes

• Live for yourself... there's no one else more worth living for...
• It's always a happy day when YYZ appears on our luggage tags.
• Let your heart be the anchor and the beat of your song.
• I have come to believe that anger and grudges are burning embers in the heart.
• The tarot card 'The Tower' seemed a chilling reflection of the events of September 11, 2001.
• Extroverts never understand introverts, and it was like that in school days.
• We're only immortal for a limited time.
• Everything in moderation, with occasional excess.
• Geddy once joked, 'You're the only guy I know who rehearses to rehearse!
• Like a force of nature love can fade with the stars at dawn...

Neil Peart Quotes About Life

You just become adaptable and try to lead a good life in ways that make sense, regardless. Because I know at the end of it, if I'm going to meet Jesus or Allah or Buddha, I'm going to be all right. — Neil Peart

Extroverts never understand introverts, and it was like that in school days. I read recently that all of us can be defined in adult life by the way others perceived us in high school. — Neil Peart

What a young musician's dream, to say, "Look at those chrome drums. Look at that 22-inch ride cymbal. I'll have those." It was one of those unparalleled exciting days of your life. — Neil Peart

To get nostalgic about other people's music, or even about your own, makes a terrible statement about the condition of your life and your prospects for the future. — Neil Peart

To me, the highest expression of life is art with jokes. It's very rarified, very difficult to accomplish if you want to be more than just funny, and more than just jokes about human gaseousness. — Neil Peart

All four winds together can't bring the world to me Shadows cast a play of light, so much I want to see Chase the sun around the world, I want to look at life-In the Available Light. I'll go with the wind, I'll stand in the light. — Neil Peart

Neil Peart Quotes About Drumming

It's interesting. I've known quite a few good athletes that can't begin to play a beat on the drum set. Most team sport is about the smooth fluidity of hand-eye coordination and physical grace, where drumming is much more about splitting all those things up. — Neil Peart

It was actually drumming that gave me the stamina to get into sports later. — Neil Peart

If you've got a problem, take it out on a drum. — Neil Peart

For me, drum elements are like hieroglyphics - I think of a certain physical figure, and a little three-dimensional glyph will appear in my mind as I'm playing. — Neil Peart

It was actually drumming that gave me the stamina to get into sports later. I started playing drums at 13, and when I got to the international touring level... I got interested in cross-country skiing, long-distance swimming, bicycling... things that require stamina, not finesse. — Neil Peart

To me, drum soloing is like doing a marathon and solving equations at the same time. — Neil Peart

I expect if you're a professional public speaker, you probably wouldn't want to go onstage and sing and play drums. — Neil Peart

Neil Peart Quotes About Music

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted. Not so boldly charted, it's really just a question of your honesty. — Neil Peart

One likes to believe in the freedom of music... — Neil Peart

Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to play music that I liked, and even when I was in cover bands when I was a teenager we only played cover tunes that we liked. That was the simple morality that I grew up with. — Neil Peart

Neil Peart Quotes About Made

Howard Roark stood as a role model for me - as exactly the way I already was living. Even at that tender age [18] I already felt that. And it was intuitive or instinctive or inbred stubbornness or whatever; but I had already made those choices and suffered for them. — Neil Peart

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice. If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill. I will choose a path thats clear. I will choose Freewill. — Neil Peart

If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice. — Neil Peart

I don't like lyrics that are just thrown together, that were obviously written as you went along, or the song was already written and the guy made up the lyrics in five minutes. — Neil Peart

Neil Peart Quotes About Play

I'm still no good at ball-and-stick games. If I go play golf with the guys, it's intended to be a joke. — Neil Peart

When I was young, my ambitions were very modest. I thought, "If only I could play at the battle of the bands at the Y, that would be the culmination of existence!" — Neil Peart

I want to be an improviser, and I've worked very hard at that. It's an art. You don't just play whatever comes into your head; you have to be very deliberate about what you do. — Neil Peart

If I do something weird, play it twice and it's a new part. — Neil Peart

Neil Peart Famous Quotes And Sayings

The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect, So hard to earn so easily burned In the fullness of time, A garden to nurture and protect It's a measure of a life The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect, The way you live, the gifts that you give In the fullness of time, It's the only return that you expect — Neil Peart

I still totally believe in individual rights and individual responsibility and in choosing to do good. — Neil Peart

Look in, look the storm in the eye. Look out, to the sea and the sky. Look around, at the sight and sound. Look in, look out, look around. — Neil Peart

There's still a lot I'm angry about, a lot of human behaviour that's appalling and despicable, but you choose what you can fight against. I always thought if I could just put something in words perfectly enough, people would get the idea and it would change things. — Neil Peart

Once I had defined myself as a compositional drummer, I thought, "Well, I want to be an improvisational drummer." — Neil Peart

If the future's looking dark, We're the ones who have to shine. If there's no one in control, We're the ones who draw the line. Though we live in trying times, We're the ones who have to try. And we know that time has wings, So we're the ones who have to fly. — Neil Peart

More a paraphrase than a quote, really, but it comes from a prayer which was stitched into a sampler above my grandmother's bed. It began like this: 'Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep...' — Neil Peart

I love jokes as much as anyone, but I don't want to hear my snail jokes every day. But I might want to hear a good song every day. — Neil Peart

Lotus-land as it appears in 'Free Will' is simply a metaphor for an idealized background, a 'land of milk and honey.' It is sometimes also used as a pejorative name for Los Angeles, though that was not in my mind when I wrote it. — Neil Peart

If it's cross-country ski season, I'll be out doing that, or snowshoeing up in Quebec. In my California home, I go to the local Y and I like doing yoga. It's been hugely beneficial to me in injury avoidance. — Neil Peart

Lessons taught but never learned, all around us anger burns. Guide the future by the past. Long ago the mould was cast. — Neil Peart

There's a new reality born every minute. Unless one is a believer in predestination (in which case I'll call the prestidigitator), or other puppet-like restraints on our powers, one is free to imagine and effect changes on the world. And if enough people do it, there are big changes. These things happen. Anything can. — Neil Peart

When I'm riding my motorcycle, I'm glad to be alive. When I stop riding my motorcycle, I'm glad to be alive. — Neil Peart

Standing in front of a microphone where every word or every slip that you make, especially in these times, is with you forever - you want to say the right thing. I fell into having to extemporize, and it came okay because of tools I've learned. I said [to myself], "Remember [to mention] mom and dad." — Neil Peart

And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start to mold a new reality closer to the heart. — Neil Peart

Anytime I have an idea, I'll make sure that I put it down so that when we do sit down to write an album, I don't have to dream it all out of thin air. I don't have to be creative on the spur of the moment, or spontaneously artistic. I just take advantage of whenever creativity strikes. — Neil Peart

Pure libertarianism believes that people will be generous and help each other. Well, they won't. I wish it were so, and I live that way. — Neil Peart

Each of us A cell of awareness Imperfect and incomplete Genetic blends With uncertain ends On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet — Neil Peart

Better the pride that resides as a citizen of the world than a pride that divides when a colorful rag is unfurled — Neil Peart

With people too, you constantly think, "If I'm nice to people and treat them well, they'll appreciate it and behave better." They won't, but it's still not a bad way to live. — Neil Peart

Don't try to change Doofus, let Doofus change you. — Neil Peart

No one gets to their heaven without a fight... — Neil Peart

A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission. — Neil Peart

All the world's indeed a stage And we are merely players Performers and portrayers Each another's audience outside the gilded cage — Neil Peart

While I believe in all that freedom, I also believe that no one should suffer needlessly. — Neil Peart

Adventures suck when you're having them. — Neil Peart

I'm a linear thinking agnostic, but not an atheist folks. — Neil Peart

I had spindly little ankles, and growing up in Canada, I couldn't skate. I was no good at any sports so was very much a pariah through those adolescent years. — Neil Peart

It is impossible to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and be a Republican. It's philosophically absolutely opposed - if they could only think about what they were saying for a minute. That's when you get caught up in the webs of what people call themselves and how they behave. — Neil Peart

But glittering prizes and endless compromises, Shatter the illusion of integrity... — Neil Peart

I'm less comfortable in a gregarious social situation, and you can be introverted and still share everything. It just means that you're guarded. — Neil Peart

From first to last, the peak is never passed. Something always fires the light that gets in your eyes. — Neil Peart

From the point of ignition. To the final drive. The point of the journey is not to arrive. — Neil Peart

As crises came up later on - "Oh, we have to compromise, and the record company wants to do this," I'd be like, "No, I don't have to." — Neil Peart

You can do a lot in a lifetime, if you don't burn out too fast/You can make the most of the distance/First you need endurance/First you've got to last. — Neil Peart

Could hell be a place where there is no self-respect? A place where people have no pride in their own existence or behavior, and thus would have none for anyone or anything else? — Neil Peart

No, his mind is not for rent To any God or government Always hopeful yet discontent He knows changes aren't permanent But change is. — Neil Peart

I am a big fan of Dos Passos' stylistic ability, his poetic approach to prose, but the ideas presented in the songs are quite different from those which he exemplified. — Neil Peart

You can't get wise with sleep still in your eyes no matter what your dream might be. — Neil Peart

A quality of justice A quantity of light A particle of mercy Makes the color of right — Neil Peart

Courageous convictions will drag the dream into existence. — Neil Peart

Different hearts beat on different strings — Neil Peart

Throw off those chains of reason and your prison disappears. — Neil Peart

How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit — Neil Peart

Half the world cries Half the world laughs Half the world tries To be the other half — Neil Peart

The Seven Cities of Gold always fascinated me. Southwestern U.S. history especially fascinates me. The whole spur of the Spanish exploration of the Southwestern U.S. was the search for these mythical Seven Cities of Gold. — Neil Peart

Dedicated to the future, with honor to the past. — Neil Peart

Too much attention and hoopla doesn't agree with my temperament. — Neil Peart

The ones we wish could hear us have heard it all before. — Neil Peart

Now I call myself a bleeding heart libertarian. Because I do believe in the principles of Libertarianism as an ideal - because I'm an idealist. — Neil Peart

Sometimes you're up against everybody in the whole world - even your friends and family are saying, "You need a single." You feel sometimes incredibly alone. — Neil Peart

I read recently that all of us can be defined in adult life by the way others perceived us in high school. I know [people] who had the popular, good-looking path in high school; they tend not to do so well. It was a little bit too easy for them, where for those of us who struggled in every sense, perhaps our determination and self-reliance and discipline were reinforced by that. — Neil Peart

...The important thing is: if you fail once, or if your luck is bad this time, the dream is still there. A dream is only over if you give it up-or if it comes true. — Neil Peart

You can surrender without a prayer, but never really pray without surrender. You can fight without ever winning, but never ever win without a fight. — Neil Peart

Half the world hates What half the world does every day Half the world waits While half gets on with it anyway — Neil Peart

People don't realize the limitations of 200 words, and the way they get chiselled down into a song that has to be sung. — Neil Peart

Innocence gave me confidence to go up against reality. — Neil Peart

Performing live in front of an audience is such a matter of will - all of those things you can do just fine in your basement, suddenly you have to do them in front of hundreds or thousands of people, and it becomes a different matter entirely. — Neil Peart

I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose freewill. — Neil Peart

No changes are permanent, but change is. — Neil Peart

Those who know what's best for us must rise and save us from ourselves. — Neil Peart

If you want something done right, just forget it. — Neil Peart

Life Lessons by Neil Peart

1. Neil Peart's life story teaches us to never give up on our dreams, no matter how difficult the journey may be. He worked hard to become one of the greatest drummers of all time, and his perseverance and dedication to his craft is an inspiration to us all.
2. Neil Peart's life also teaches us the importance of self-expression and creativity. He was a master of his craft and used his music to express himself and share his unique perspective with the world.
3. Finally, Neil Peart's life teaches us the value of living life to the fullest. He traveled the world, explored new cultures, and embraced every experience with a passion and enthusiasm that was contagious.