Quotes by Bruce Springsteen

“I was always concerned with writing to my age at a particular moment. That was the way I would keep faith with the audience that supported me as I went along.”

“The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.”

“For me, I was somebody who was a smart young guy who didn't do very well in school. The basic system of education, I didn't fit in my intelligence was elsewhere.”

“My image had always been very heterosexual, very straight. So it was a nice experience for me, a chance to clarify my own feelings about gay and lesbian civil rights.”

“Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed.”

“I always wanted my music to influence the life you were living emotionally - with your family, your lover, your wife, and, at a certain point, with your children.”

“The audiences are there as a result of my history with the band but also as a result of my being able to reach people with a tune.”

“I do a lot of curiosity buying I buy it if I like the album cover, I buy it if I like the name of the band, anything that sparks my imagination. I still like to go to record stores, I like to just wander around and I'll buy whatever catches my attention.”

“I do a lot of curiosity buying I buy it if I like the album cover, I buy it if I like the name of the band, anything that sparks my imagination.”

“But then I go through long periods where I don't listen to things, usually when I'm working. In between the records and in between the writing I suck up books and music and movies and anything I can find.”

“Certainly tolerance and acceptance were at the forefront of my music.”

“Adult life is dealing with an enormous amount of questions that don't have answers. So I let the mystery settle into my music. I don't deny anything, I don't advocate anything, I just live with it.”

“Some of the greatest blues music is some of the darkest music you've ever heard.”

“I can sing very comfortably from my vantage point because a lot of the music was about a loss of innocence, there's innocence contained in you but there's also innocence in the process of being lost.”

“I think that is what film and art and music do they can work as a map of sorts for your feelings.”

“And whether you're drawn to gospel music or church music or honky-tonk music, it informs your character and it informs your talent.”

“There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.”

“I think politics come out of psychology.”

“Plus, you know, when I was young, there was a lot of respect for clowning in rock music - look at Little Richard. It was a part of the whole thing, and I always also believed that it released the audience.”

“It's a sad man my friend who's livin' in his own skin and can't stand the company.”

“You can't have a United States if you are telling some folks that they can't get on the train. There is a cracking point where a society collapses.”

“The only thing I can say about having this type of success is that you can get yourself in trouble because basically the world is set open for you. People will say yes to anything you ask, so it's basically down to you and what you want or need.”

“Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you're trying to say on stage. Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.”

“Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.”

Click here to go back to main page.

Learn more about Bruce Springsteen.