Arlo Guthrie Quotations

My mother had introduced me to a lot of my father's friends because she believed that I would get to know the guy my dad was better through his friends than just in the hospital visits.

Basically, I think you need two things to get by in this world: a sense of humor and the ability to laugh when your ego is destroyed.

Folk music is music that everyday people can play, and it inspired a lot of people to make their own music. That trailed into making your own pop music, and that's why garage bands started springing up everywhere.

We live in an increasingly sophisticated world that makes it difficult to make simple comments on stuff. There are too many people on both sides of the border who are taking advantage of circumstances and the situation.

My only description for me is that there's no throwaway people. That's the creed that I live by. It doesn't matter if I'm singing or not. That's the kind of person that my father and mother wanted me to be. The end obligation is to make people feel good about who they are.

I don't want a pickle, just want to ride on my motorsickle

At the same time the folk boom was happening, the civil rights movement was happening, the anti-war movement was happening, the ban the bomb movement was happening, the environmental movement was happening. There was suddenly a generation ready to change the course of history.

You get people talking about being worried about their art, and dances... their culture being wiped out or taken over, and yet these same people are taking advantage of their people to use them as cheap labour.

The death of what's dead is the birth of what's living.

Everyone has a responsibility to not only tolerate another person's point of view, but also to accept it eagerly as a challenge to your own understanding. And express those challenges in terms of serving other people.

Along with a sense of humor, my songs have to be sincere, and they have to be sung from a position of inner conviction.

You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in.

But think of the last guy. For one minute, think of the last guy. Nobodys got it worse than that guy. Nobody in the whole world.

Thank God that the people that run this world are not smart enough to keep running it forever. You know, everybody gets a handle on it for a little while.

There are people all over the world who are willing to exploit others. You can't just point the finger at America

Building walls isn't going to work in the long run. Some people are happy with the wall in Israel, but somebody will get a weapon someday and knock it over or something. Walls aren't the answer between countries, though

I'd rather have friends who care than friends who agree with me.

There's only one God. Call him whatever you want

I thought I would be governor of Massachusetts. I stood on a pile of my old albums and said, 'I'm the only one with a record to stand on.'

We would turn everything into songs in those days.

With the advent of radio and recording, music became an industry rather than just a tradition.

People were talking about songs of the common man in order to make the common man. With Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, they were so common it was just uncommon.

If you do anything for 40 years, you can do it comfortably. And it will always be good. But unless you're willing to risk it being bad, it can never be great.

I've written quite a variety of songs, everything from kids songs to political satire, and my dad covered a fairly large range, also.

I don't do anything on stage that allows me to become a trained seal, where you're just doing the same thing over and over.

I left the entertainment industry part of my life behind in 1983, when we decided not to work with major record companies anymore.

I'm not just a singer-songwriter doing songs in the key of me.

Yes, I was born in Coney Island. The Holy Land.

Everywhere I go, I see all kinds of people at my shows - conservatives, liberals, new-agers, teen-agers, old pensioners. And for those people to have something in common is real interesting to me.

I think of my parents as a single unit, and it's interesting because they shared so much, and they were totally opposite. My mother, a Martha Graham dancer, had a classical background; my father had a back-porch background.

Music is a nice friend to have around, whether it is just for yourself or for other people. If you can enjoy it, being professional is almost secondary.

My dad's songs were really written to make certain people feel as though they had some kind of value. Because they were told from where they work and from the countries they had immigrated from that they did not.

Probably my two biggest musical influences were the Everly Brothers and the Beatles, in chronological order. Both of them have had a very simple-sounding musical style that's actually quite complex as far as popular songs are concerned.

It's about the time I was riding my Motorcycle, going down a mountain road at 150 miles an hour, playing my guitar.

We went back, afterward, after the show was over that night, I took my kids backstage and said, "You know what? I know my dad's songs...

I froze in time! And I thought "My God......I'm free!

Ostrich is a very lean meat. Bison is a very lean meat. Chicken is a very lean meat. Notice something about my favorite meats?

Greed and globalization aren't just America's fault.

Coming into Los Angeles, bringing in a couple of keys. Don't touch my bags, if you please Mr. Customs man.

The New York State Freeway's closed, man. Far out!

Songwriting is like fishing in a stream; you put in your line and hope to catch something. And I don't think anyone downstream from Bob Dylan ever caught anything.

We would turn everything into songs in those days...A lot of people think "Alice's Restaurant" was an anti-war song. It's not.

We had a great time on the bench talking about crime, mother-stabbin', father raping, all kinds of groovy things.

If readers understand that they do not understand what they are reading then they must possess an understanding which is superior to the meaning which caused that misunderstanding.

You don't need spirituality to discover the troubles that come your way. But, it's good to know that troubles are not unique to you alone.

Any big organization can be subverted by governments or multinational special interests. They have the resources to cast doubt and fear over any group they feel threatened by.

I don't write as many songs as I used to. But, I find myself writing for social media more - times have changed. And I love photography, so a lot of my creative energy gets caught up that way.

What's in that pipe that he's smoking?

No Judgment = No Expectations: That's my motto.

I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

Be serious. Folk songs are serious. That's what Pete Seeger told me. Arlo, I only wanna tell you one thing. Folk songs are serious. And I said Right.

You teach kids how to succeed when they successfully foil the educational system.

I don't want a pickle, I just want ride on my motorcikle. I don't want to die, I just want a ride on my motorcy........cle.

Being famous is not the same as being important. A lot of important people aren't famous, and a lot of famous people aren't important.

Only the words of love kept alive are worthy of not being wasted.

If you want to end war and stuff, you gotta sing loud.

Songs are like fish. You just gotta have your line in the water. And it's a bad idea to fish downstream from Bob Dylan.

Everyone has troubles. Finding yourself in the same boat with everyone else is the first sign of spirituality.

Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, he must be a communist. And a beard and long hair, must be a pacifist. What's in that pipe that he's smoking?

I wasn't very reliable. People like Pete Seeger would show up there, obviously needing somebody to accompany him on the guitar while he went over some new songs. All of the office work just got left.

With all of the history that he'd had with the Weavers, he really was a connection between my dad's era and the world of the late 60's.

We are thrilled that we have been able to make some small dent in all that is wrong down here.

A lot of people think 'Alice's Restaurant' was an anti-war song. It's not. It's an anti-idiot song,

at the festival in 1969. ''I would love to see it just called the Newport Folk Festival, and you wouldn't have to change the name every few years.