Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Nancy Wilson

Generally, I think of myself as a guitar player, but when I do find the right song to sing lead on, I try to do my best.

We've come through on a very strange path, and it's all somehow worked out.

Grace Slick was a total trip to work with. Lots of jokes and opinions. A strident individual and super talented!

One of the signature things about Heart was the acoustic guitar in a rock format, which you didn't hear that often.

I'm a Katy Perry fan, and I took my kids to go see her, and it was a great show, and she really can sing, and she really can play.

Our mom was a super strident, capable, and strong individual. I think because she was a military wife in the Marine Corps, she had to push back the things that she believed, and she had to really scrape and fight to have her space.

Everyone makes mistakes.

We really had boundless optimism about the place of music in the culture - and in the world.

I have a Gibson Thinline that I designed the body shape of, which I used a lot on the 'Fanatic' album that I'm going to shake out.

I have a favorite blue Telecaster. It's an old '60-something, which I play at every show. That's probably my favorite all-around stage guitar.

We see people from 6 to 60 years old at the shows.

I like playing. Guitar... on a loud rock stage... with colored lights. Everything sounds better with colored lights!

When you're in your twenties, your brain hasn't even finished baking, and your hormones are giving you all kinds of direction of which ways to go.

It's the ultimate compliment to be imitated or at least be somebody's influence, for sure.

One of the things I've heard musicians say that's true is, 'I would play for free. I would play music forever, but you have to pay me to travel.' I know we're always going to make music. The traveling part - that is the most wear and tear on any human.

There was a lot of procrastination on Cameron's part because of the personal nature of 'Almost Famous.' There was a lot of deep, dark doubt about even doing it. I don't mind being a cheerleader, but I did reach my limit quite a few times. I do my own writing, so I understand, but I was pushed to the point of anger with the insecurity of it.

Unfortunately, the music programs are being stripped out of the schools these days. We have to change that.

If you're in a rock band, you're never too tame.

They're hard to come by, good producers.

Ever since I could remember, women's issues have been pretty urgent.

There have never been a lot of female guitarists out there, so most of my influences were male. Acoustically, I followed Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. Also, John Lennon and Paul McCartney - both incredible acoustic guitar players.

You need to know how to play live. The ones who can do that are the ones you'll see around for a long time.

The electric guitar was a big step for me, but I didn't spend a lot of time trying to adjust. It wasn't like, 'Hey, little lady, come strap on this here big guitar.' We took it in steps as much as possible.

I think if there's a support system in place, and you're acting adult-to-adult with a sense of unconditional love and forgiveness, only good things will come from any relationship between men and women.

Music changes kids, and kids change the world.

We didn't want to be the girlfriends of the Beatles. We wanted to be the Beatles.

I really love singing. I love singing harmony, mostly.

We came from an era when women normally did not rock.

I don't think anyone does Rush songs except for Rush.

As far as havin' someone to talk to on the road, for instance, who's not a guy - it's saved my life many times to have Ann in the same group.

What Jimmy Page did was pretty inspiring for guitar players. He married a lot of acoustic elements into hard rock. The kind of chords he used were very left of center, with a lot of dissonance - I absorbed that like a sponge. It's all over the music I write, always.

We're notorious for living up to our namesake. We're all about love. That's how we roll, even when it's to a fault.

In the case of Roadcase Royale, everyone in the band has a lot to offer as a writer and producer.

The Lovemongers came together because we felt kind of overinflated by the end of the Eighties.

'Heartless' is something Ann and I wrote together.

We've been around for awhile, had a lot of success. Got a chance to sit around and go, 'Oh, yeah, we're pretty good.'

We get notes sent to us backstage from college students that say, 'My parents used to play your albums all the time! I grew up with you, and I love the new stuff.'

Heart had originally relocated to Vancouver because Mike evaded the draft to protest the Vietnam war. We had to deal with a lot at that time - it was a tough period for the band.

Prince, I think, trained amazing musicians to bring more to any musical table they come to.

I really like the Budda head with a big Orange cabinet with Celestion 30 speakers and my '63 Fender Telecaster.

I think it's important to be kind of brutally honest without making anyone else feel bad in any way, if possible.

There are some beautiful things about people like Katy Perry, who are bold enough to go up on a pink cotton-candy cloud, with a guitar, in a tutu, and sing all by herself.

I feel like I've had a lot of painful situations that I intentionally delete from my memory.

Heart weren't part of a movement like grunge; we were our own kind of movement.

I'll work my butt off to do something well.

We had the idea as women that we could walk into music and be good at it and be as good as any man and have a career in it without being taken advantage of. So basically, those things came true. The obstacle course was just more difficult than we ever anticipated. We were optimistic and very naive.

My highest score karaoke song is 'Ben,' by Michael Jackson.

I'm a chameleon when it comes to guitar playing and like to stretch out into different territories.

I think what constitutes rock nowadays is people that actually play and sing. They can do the job live with no ProTools or embellishments or other recorded material.

I've been through a lot of heartache in my day, and you turn to music to prop yourself up. It's a healing thing, and it's a powerful, powerful, beautiful thing.

I just think it's good to have a big, living, breathing piece of music that's not just songs.

One night, I remember being really sick in bed with chills and a fever when Ann came in all excited and said, 'I have these lyrics! Let me read them to you!' They were the lyrics to 'Crazy on You,' and in my fever haze I said, 'Yeah! Those are really good!'

I was always so jealous of a band like Fleetwood Mac, for instance, where Christine McVie would sing a whole bunch of songs even though Stevie was the obvious lead singer. It added variety to their shows.

I think there were a couple really good songs on 'Whirlygig.'

We always wanted to do a children's book of some form or another.

The high road and positivity is never the easy way but always the best way.

I saw Led Zeppelin live for the first time when I was thirteen.

I know, in so many cases, a lot of the women who came up through the singer-songwriter, Lilith Fair era, the earlier Lilith Fair era, did say that we were influences on them.

We're not just 'ladies in rock.' We're weird people!

'Barracuda' is very fun to play because it's like a galloping steed of a rock song.