Top 119 Quotes & Sayings by John Densmore - Page 2

Jim had a spirit that was incapable of compromise.

Many years ago, I spent 5k at a fundraiser to hang with another lame duck: Bill Clinton. I lobbied him to pardon Leonard Peltier, the Nelson Mandela of Native Americans.

The one constant thread through my life so far is that I have been constantly fed and nourished by music.

The End' eventually became the encore at all of our big concerts. We would play 'Light My Fire,' and there would be this incredible Summer Of Love '60s thing, and then we'd come out and bludgeon them with 'The End.'

The Doors are etched on my forehead and always will be.

I used to say, if Jim were alive today he'd never be clean and sober but I'm changing that answer because Eminem - angry, creative, just like Jim; a real talent - and Clapton, of course. It's a different time so he would have learned something, I think, but I don't protect what he did.

I'm from the Vietnam generation.

I do think if we had a draft again, the United States would embark on fewer wars.

I like to drum for various theatrical things.

I stumbled onto Peggy Feury in the '80s. I recognized her brilliance immediately; it took her awhile to recognize mine.

Every new generation seems to have to go through its Doors rite of passage.

President Obama should pardon Leonard Peltier, or at least commute his sentence, not just for humanitarian reasons, but also as a way of acknowledging the injustice suffered by Native Americans.

I knew Jim was going down, but was very pleased that somehow, despite his self-destruction, when we rehearsed, wrote songs and recorded, he showed up. He pulled it together.

I've hung out and performed with many Native American musicians, and my experience is that the first peoples of this land are incredibly open, warm and forgiving.

The fossil fuel industry has made advocating alternative energy sources a liberal/conservative thing, and an ideological battle, when it should really be about a healthier, less toxic world.

First of all, Turtle Island is the name of this continent we live on... that's right, not 'America... as in North America,' but the name given by the first peoples of this land.

Yes, the '60s went too far, but we were trying to find new ways, better ways, to do things. And great seeds were planted: civil rights, the peace movement, the environmental movement, feminism. They're big seeds. They take a long time to come to fruition. Please, let's stop fighting, and get out our water cans.

Jazz musicians are spiritual by nature.

Some kids went to the movies for escape. We found it with jazz. This is where we got religion. It was a kind of raw spiritual anarchy.

When Dudamel is up on the podium, he truly is 'inside' the music. It courses in his veins, mixing with his blood.

The Stones without Mick. The Police without Sting. The Doors without Jim. It doesn't work.

The Doors are Ray, Robby, Jim and John.

Being a writer is a very difficult craft. Just like learning an instrument, it takes a long time and I couldn't really say I was a writer even after my first memoir.

Painters 'see' the world; musicians 'hear' it.

The '50s were so lame they produced the '60s!

I mean, take 'Chariots Of Fire.' That opening scene, the long shot of the runners along the beach, and then you hear that music... I think that was one of the first times synthesizers were really used in movie music. I just flipped! I didn't even care what the story was going to be. Give me a nice marriage of sound and music.

We drummers all know that our mother's heartbeat was the first instrument we heard. As a race, we've all been trying to get back to that womb. That's why rhythm makes us move... dance.

I love 'L.A. Woman.'

Certainly, we are all on the shoulders of those who fought for our country. But the first peoples of this land justifiably might feel bitterness.

Everything Bernie Sanders says in his speeches is based on facts and is about empowering people, not making them angry.

Anyone can play Doors songs, unless it's for an ad for some product.

I am of the Vietnam generation; therefore, I feel mistrustful of the military.

Why is there such passion for any sort of gossipy, provocative sensual stuff? It sells!

There were some hardcore fans who thought I was ruining the band they loved. And now there's this document, 'The Doors Unhinged,' which, hopefully, they'll take away that I was trying to preserve the band they love and its legacy.

Some genres of rock 'n' roll attract more of the party animals. I guess the Stones partied a bit. I think The Doors were more like The Beatles backstage - friends hanging out and whatever. It wasn't crazy. Everything was pretty subdued.

In the end, I have a nice house and groovy cars, and so do my bandmates. It's not like they're starving.

Death trumps everything.

Sound is everything to a musician.

Even though the white-haired politician has no colorful wardrobe, after he speaks... you want to hug him. Why? Because what Bernie Sanders says feels like the truth. The unbridled truth. And he says it loud.

Ulcers come from not dealing with something.

If an ensemble - I don't care if it's a duet or a forty-piece orchestra - the musicians, the two of them or the forty of them, are all trying to play as tight as possible, as one person. They're trying to play like they are one person.

Bass players and drummers are brothers in the basement cooking up the groove that makes people move.

Going first is courageous. I'm just talking on a spirit level now.

The first drum beat we all heard was our mother.

When an ensemble is really tight or playing as one, it's a transcendental experience. It is spiritual. It goes beyond the ensemble. Ray and I and Robby and Jim were pretty tight, musically and spiritually.

I've been very blessed to make a living in stuff I love and am totally passionate about, music and writing. So I'm eager to see what the day will bring, how I will feed that passion.

I believe in the mystery, and I don't want to take it any further than that. Maybe what I mean by that is love.

We have our own little heartbeat, too. We already have what I would call polyrhythms going on.

I don't play just one-two-three-four. I try to play melodies.

I was raised Catholic. I didn't appreciate the guilt and sin part of it.

I've been a longtime supporter of all sorts of environmental groups.

Fortunately, an extremely sexy, pixie-voiced blond named Ronnie Harran, who booked the Whisky, saw us...She had an ear for talent...the Whisky was finally a gig we could be proud of.

In your twenties, everything makes you crazy.

The more the ensemble, the duet or the forty piece orchestra, plays as one person, the more it makes people dance, because you're back in the womb. You feel mom's heartbeat. It makes you move. It reminds you of that warm, groovy space you were in.

If you're playing live, I like to think of the ensemble, whether it's the duet or a forty piece orchestra, as one person. And the entire audience, whether it's twelve people or twelve thousand at Madison Square Garden, is the other person. The two of you are going to dance together tonight.

People forget that public people and celebrities, they too have to go to the bathroom and get divorced.

Those who go ahead provide a little light into the unknown.

Being in a band is like polygamy without the sex.

When I wake up in the morning, I meditate immediately, before I even get out of bed.