Holly Near Quotes

#1. Language is like songs, like food, like dance-it is the expression of what we think.

Holly Near

#2. My parents encouraged thought. You'll get through life better if you learn how to think.

Holly Near

#3. Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?

Holly Near

#4. Whenever new ideas emerge, songs soon follow, and before long the songs are leading.

Holly Near

#5. We are a gentle angry people
We are a land of many colors
We are gay and straight together
We are a peaceful loving people
And we are singing, singing for our lives.

Holly Near

#6. When we make mistakes, say, I'm blessed that I have an opportunity to learn from this.

Holly Near

#7. I'm not allowing my perspective to be dictated by the dominant culture.

Holly Near

#8. When an audience comes to one of my concerts, I hope they'll see themselves, somewhere, in one of the songs.

Holly Near

#9. To come to a concert and hear a lot of songs from a female perspective should not make men say, 'Oh well, that's for women'.

Holly Near

#10. White middle- and upper-class men have a longer journey to go than many people.

Holly Near

#11. My creativity and my political work are linked. I don't do this work out of guilt or out of responsibility.

Holly Near

#12. It is essential that men start being interested in and excited by how women think.

Holly Near

#13. You just keep feeding hogwash to people, and pretty soon they'll eat it.

Holly Near

#14. The women's movement completely changed attitudes all over the world in ways we'll never be able to count.

Holly Near

#15. You can kill a man but not a song when it's sung the whole world 'round.

Holly Near

#16. Once women are not excluded, I don't think any of us will give a damn what pronouns are used. That wasn't the point.

Holly Near

#17. When I am willing, all sound is available to me ...

Holly Near

#18. When the students were killed at Kent State, the cast voted to do a demonstration from the stage, and I abstained.

Holly Near

#19. I am not here for me
I am not here to promote my ego
I am here to serve the Great Spirit
To be a voice for those afraid to speak
To be movement for those who are stuck
I am here to reveal a mystery
To learn something new about myself

Holly Near

#20. The bravest warriors are the ones who stand for peace.

Holly Near

#21. Time has passed through me and become a song.

Holly Near

#22. To my great surprise and pleasure, I have had dinner with most of the people living with whom I would like to have dinner.

Holly Near

#23. My parents had been involved in the labor movement; if we'd grown up in the city, we would have been red-diaper babies.

Holly Near

#24. To be always in a state of wonder is a kind of sensitivity that can sometimes be an extraordinary blessing and sometimes a real pain.

Holly Near

#25. I am selfish. I reach for the world I want to live in. And I believe in leaving our best we can do to our children

Holly Near

#26. If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

Holly Near

#27. Often thoughts are given to me with the sole purpose of giving them away.

Holly Near

#28. Leaping away from my mistakes has propelled me forward. It has great force behind it. It makes for great storytelling.

Holly Near

#29. Poverty without a people's government looks like hopelessness, but to see poverty in organized communities is to see relief-in-progress.

Holly Near

#30. I don't believe in nirvana. If nirvana was handed to us on a silver platter, this would be the first day of our struggle to keep it.

Holly Near

#31. All my life I have gone out on a limb, but I have turned the limb into a bridge, and there is cool, clear water flowing under.

Holly Near

#32. Part of keeping space open is not to try to choose a form - to spend more time thinking about content, and let form take care of itself.

Holly Near

#33. The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

Holly Near

#34. Peace can start with just one heart.

Holly Near

#35. It doesn't take long to sum up the major theses of most popular music: he loves me; he left me; I need him; I needed him, but now I need his best friend. Rather limited scope.

Holly Near

#36. In my life, the stories I have heard from my family, my friends, my community, and from willing strangers all over the world have been the true source of my education.

Holly Near

#37. The greatest warriors are the ones who fight for peace.

Holly Near

#38. Music can be used against us as much as it can be used for us. Muzak can put a whole nation to sleep, whereas a lullaby is intended to put a child to sleep in a sweet way.

Holly Near

#39. If I didn't think and feel the way I think and feel, I couldn't sing the way I sing. And I like singing the way I sing.

Holly Near

#40. Like any art, the creation of self is both natural and seemingly impossible. It requires training as well as magic.

Holly Near

#41. We who are interested in relative truth have to keep digging for it and not let ourselves be sucked under.

Holly Near

#42. A lot of artists say, I'm not political. People are afraid of this word.

Holly Near

#43. People love to hear the mistakes you've made.

Holly Near

#44. It's been important to me to be a good activist, a good thinker, a good musician, a good singer, and a good entertainer. You can't do it all, but I have walked those delicate lines as best I know how.

Holly Near

#45. I like this life. I like it when it's hard, and I like it better when it's not, but I know you don't get the sweet part without the bitter.

Holly Near

#46. My voice is my instrument ... It is not in the throat, from where it appears to come. It is in my feet and how they touch the floor, in my legs and how they lift and sink with the rhythm of the song. It is in my hips and belly and lower back ...

Holly Near

#47. Part of being an artist is being willing to be shocked, being willing to be surprised, being willing to be hurt.

Holly Near

#48. Something happens to me when I witness someone's courage. They may not know I'm watching and I might not let them know. But something happens to me that will last me for a lifetime. To fill me when I'm empty, and rock me when I'm low.

Holly Near

#49. You can't just leave out one part; the bread won't rise if the yeast isn't there.

Holly Near