A Quote by Janis Ian

I bought all my friends guitars and I had a good time with my money. But then one day the IRS came knocking. — © Janis Ian
I bought all my friends guitars and I had a good time with my money. But then one day the IRS came knocking.
When I had money, money, O! I knew no joy till I went poor; For many a false man as a friend Came knocking all day at my door.
I had my group of friends, and they stayed my group of friends, they were good about that. We all started to succeed at the same time, so that sort of took the curse off it. I didn't have a bunch of people scowling at me and being potentially jealous. I just had good friends who I was able to help, and they helped me. Yet it eventually came to feel debilitating.
When I earnt my first money, I went to a shop and bought jeans and a top. But then I wore them both for such a long time that finally my model agency said, 'You should buy something else!' I was saving the money because it was the first time I'd ever had any.
I’m not a good faster. My friends have visions of God, I have visions of hamburgers. The only time I watch the Food Channel is when I’m fasting. It’s pitiful. We did a 40 day fast. I bought 29 cookbooks. I don’t cook, but the pictures! I bought a deep-fryer and we don’t eat deep-fried food!
I understood I had to be good at school so I could play football in my free time. Usually, by the time I came home from school, I already had all my things ready for the next day, so I could put my bag on the side and go straight out to play football with my friends!
I've had plenty of friends tell me that their first time doing stand-up, they do well, and then they tank for a while after that. Kind of like the first time you do a drug, you're like, "Huh! This is pretty darn good," and then you spend all your money trying to get the same high.
I started out from a pretty modest background, so I always had a pretty good sense of money. I always had to work for my money, save my own money, I always bought my own stuff with my money... trying not to waste money unnecessarily.
I don't collect the way other people do. Some people collect rare guitars, like, 'I have a '54 Strat worth $50,000.' And I don't collect the way Nash does. Nash has Duane Allman's guitar and Johnny Cash's guitar. I bought guitars because they sounded good. I played them, they sounded unbelievably good, and I couldn't resist.
I was introduced to money as a teenager, my friends had nice things. It came naturally to me to try and make money.
I bought a Jaguar when I was 28. I'd always wanted one. I had it for years, then my friend had it, then my dad had it. It was a good workhorse.
Martin guitars have now brought out, you know, on a more traditional level, the Stephen Stills' model of Martin guitars. It's beautiful. I just went inside. I bought one immediately.
When I first came into money, I bought six or seven homes. One weekend I went to Miami and bought an apartment and a mansion several blocks from each other, which was not that bright!
Then came the second Amsterdam discovery, although the principle was known elsewhere. Bank deposits...did not need to be left idly in the bank. They could be lent. The bank then got interest. The borrower then had a deposit that he could spend. But the original deposit still stood to the credit of the original depositor. That too could be spent. Money, spendable money, had been created. Let no one rub his or her eyes. It's still being done-every day. The creation of money by a bank is as simple as this, so simple, I've often said, that the mind is slightly repelled.
The years came and went, the children came and left. The worst of getting old is not tiredness and aches and pains, but that time rushes on so quickly, that in the end it doesn't seem to exist. It's Christmas and then it's Easter. It's a clear winter's day and then a hot summer's day. In between it's a vacuum.
When I was thirteen or fourteen I bought a paintbox with oil paints from money slowly saved up. The feeling I had at the time - or better - the experience of color coming slowly out of the tube - is with me to this day.
I'm probably going to be ashamed to say this... It was a Sir Mix-a-Lot album. I think I was 12, 13. I had just enough money for the 'My Posse's on Broadway' single, so I bought that single. That was the first thing I bought with my own money.
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