Frank Zappa Quotes Page 2

“Government is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.”

“Hey, you know something people? I'm not black. But there's a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I'm not white.”

“I don't do drugs, nor have I ever believed in them. Am I a creative person? Then why do people think in order to be creative one must do drugs? Actually, I think people take them as an excuse to screw up in public, y'know, spill things or get silly. Drugs have slowed down civilization because we have to wait for people to get off their high before we can resume. They are the millstone around society's neck.”

“I don't give a f*ck if they remember me at all.”

“I don't think it's any accident that the educational system in America has been brought to its current state. Because only a totally uneducated mass of people will be baffled by balloons and yellow ribbons and little flags and buzz words and guys saying "new world order" and shit like that, I mean, only a person who has been dissuaded from any kind of critical thinking and doesn't know geography, doesn't know the English language - I mean if you can't speak English, then this stuff works on you.”

“I feel a lot of people don't know what high school is - including those who are in it. My material is provided to give them some perspective. People are stupid. They never stop to question things. They just accept. Can you imagine a nation who never questions the validity of cheerleaders and pom-poms?”

“I have an important message to deliver to all the cute people all over the world. If you're out there and you're cute, maybe you're beautiful. I just want to tell you somethin' — there's more of us ugly m*therf*ckers than you are, hey-y, so watch out.”

“I have four children, and I want them to grow up in a country that has a working First Amendment.”

“I like to watch the news, because I don't like people very much and when you watch the news... if you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know that you're right.”

“I love the guitar, always have. I can relate to it a lot better than a saxophone.”

“I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird.”

“I searched for years I found no love. I'm sure that love will never be a product of plasticity.”

“I think it's really tragic when people get serious about stuff. It's such an absurdity to take anything really seriously... I make an honest attempt not to take anything seriously: I worked that attitude out about the time I was eighteen, I mean, what does it all mean when you get right down to it, what's the story here? Being alive is so weird.”

“I think that any artistic decision that is based on whether or not you are going to make money it is not really an artistic decision. It is a business decision.”

“I think that if a person doesn't feel cynical then they're out of phase with the 20th century. Being cynical is the only way to deal with modern civilization — you can't just swallow it whole.”

“I think that if you use the so-called 'strong words' you'll get your point across faster and you can save a lot of beating around the bush. Why are people so afraid of words? Sometimes the dumbest thing that gets said makes the point for you.”

“I think the music of the Fifties is really good. I suspect it’s much better musically than much of what’s available now. Not in terms of production, but in terms of content. One good believable song about some guy’s girlfriend and how they broke up — a sincere one — is better than twenty albums of English rock that’s ever been produced.”

“I write what I like to write. Those who like to listen to it, listen to it. And the ones who don’t, watch football and drink beer, jog, go to discos and so forth. I never claimed to be a man for all seasons.”

“I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?”

“I'm a dancing fool.”

“I'm probably more famous for sitting on the toilet than for anything else that I do.”

“I'm vile and perverted.
I'm obsessed and deranged.
I've existed for years but very little has changed.
I'm the tool of the government and industry too.
For I'm destined to rule and regulate you.
You may think I'm pernicious, but you can't look away.
I'll make you think I'm delicious with the stuff that I say.
I'm the best you can get, have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozing out of your TV set.”

“If a person wants to write music and lyrics, he has a perfect right to express his views on a certain subject. I would feel wrong if I were to express anything that I didn’t believe in.”

“If we cannot be free, we can at least be cheap.”

“If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.”

“If your children ever find out how lame you really are, they'll murder you in your sleep.”

“Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is the best.”

“Interviewer: 'So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?'
Frank Zappa: 'You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?'”

“It gets harder the more you know. Because the more you find out the uglier everything seems.”

“It has never mattered to me that thirty million people might think I'm wrong. The number of people who thought Hitler was right did not make him 'right'. The same principle should be applied to anyone who has an individualistic attitude. Why do you necessarily have to be wrong just because a few million people think you are?”