Neil Percival Young is a musician, singer-songwriter and filmmaker from Canada.
Everyone has their idols. People who inspire them to get stuff done. Artists, activists, musicians and of course, Neil Young.
Neil Young quotes will tell you, how this legend has been teaching us and how to enjoy life while creating good music. To honor his achievements, we have prepared a list with some of his best quotes.
This article has two goals: first, we want to get to know Neil Young more, and second, we want to make you feel inspired so that he keeps making songs that can bring smiles on our faces even in the hardest moments.
Neil Young Quotes
“As you go through life, you’ve got to see the valleys as well as the peaks.” – Neil Young
“Studios are passe for me. I’d rather play in a garage, in a truck, or a rehearsal hall, a club, or a basement.” – Neil Young
“Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle for where we’re going. There’s something ahead worth fighting for.” – Neil Young
“I’m not into organized religion. I’m into believing in a higher source of creation, realizing we’re all just part of nature.” – Neil Young
“All that stuff about heavy metal and hard rock, I don’t subscribe to any of that. It’s all just music. I mean, the heavy metal from the ’70s sounds nothing like the stuff from the ’80s, and that sounds nothing like the stuff from the ’90s. Who’s to say what is and isn’t a certain type of music?” – Neil Young
“One good thing about the past is that you can’t change it. So there’s no reason to go back. It’s there. It is what it is. The only thing you can change is right now and what’s happening next.” – Neil Young
“As you go through life, you’ve got to see the valleys as well as the peaks.” – Neil Young
“The rockets and the satellites, spaceships that we’re creating now, we’re pollinating the universe.” – Neil Young
“Rock and roll is here to stay.” – Neil Young
“The ’60s was one of the first times the power of music was used by a generation to bind them together.” – Neil Young
Some Interesting Quotes from Neil Young
“If you follow every dream, you might get lost.” – Neil Young
“One new feature or fresh take can change everything.” – Neil Young
“Listen to your own voice. Don’t listen to someone else’s. To me the way to live is to always move forward – to keep searching for whatever it is that interests you.” – Neil Young
“As I get older, I get smaller. I see other parts of the world I didn’t see before. Other points of view. I see outside myself more.” – Neil Young
“It’s better to burn out, than to fade away.” – Neil Young
“Respect Mother Earth and her giving ways or trade away our children’s days.” – Neil Young
“I’ll never be Bob Dylan. He’s the master.” – Neil Young
“Live music is better.” – Neil Young
“For whatever you’re doing, for your creative juices, your geography’s got a hell of a lot to do with it. You really have to be in a good place, and then you have to be either on your way there or on your way from there.” – Neil Young
“Earth is a flower and it’s pollinating.” – Neil Young
Best Neil Young Quotes
“There’s an edge to real rock ‘n’ roll. It’s all that matters.” – Neil Young
“Some get stoned, some get strange, but sooner or later it all gets real.” – Neil Young
“My music isn’t anything but me. It has jazz in it and rock’n’roll, and it has an urgency to it.” – Neil Young
“I was a Reagan backer. It was a shock for some people that I could agree with anything that man would say.” – Neil Young
“Corporations don’t have children. They don’t have feelings or souls. They don’t depend on uncontaminated water, clean air, or healthy food to survive. They are beholden to one thing – the bottom line.” – Neil Young
“I’m not into this judgmental, religious-right kind of thing.” – Neil Young
“Some people put down all presidents. If you say anything good about any of them, they think you’re supporting everything they do.” – Neil Young
“Steve Jobs was a digital pioneer, but when he went home, he listened to vinyl.” – Neil Young
“I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.” – Neil Young
Meaningful Quotes from Neil Young
“I feel like I could be likened to an old hound circling on a rug for the last five years.” – Neil Young
“Nothing is perfect in God’s perfect plan.” – Neil Young
“When people start asking you to do the same thing over and over again, that’s when you know you’re way too close to something that you don’t want to be near.” – Neil Young
“I was just 20 years old when I wrote Broken Arrow.” – Neil Young
“I’m not into this judgmental, religious-right kind of thing.” – Neil Young
“I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream” – Neil Young
“Back then people closed their eyes and listened to music. Today there’s a lot of images that go with the music. A lot of music is crap and it’s all commercial and the images are all trying to sell the record.” – Neil Young
“I live for playing live. All my records are live, since After the Gold Rush, with the exception of Trans and the vocals on Landing on Water.”- Neil Young
“I don’t think I’m a thorn in the industry, I’m just another part of it.” – Neil Young
It’s cool to go places where working people are happy.” – Neil Young
Neil Young Quotes for Life
“My my, hey hey… Rock and roll is here to stay. Hey hey, my my… Rock and roll will never die.” – Neil Young
“Commitments are one of the worst things to have in the music business. They’re very annoying.” – Neil Young
“I don’t like the American media – particularly Fox.” – Neil Young
“Freedom of choice is meaningless without knowledge. That’s why it’s crucial we all get engaged and get informed.” – Neil Young
“I don’t think that one day really relates to the next day in life.” – Neil Young
“When people start asking you to do the same thing over and over again, that’s when you know you’re way too close to something that you don’t want to be near.” – Neil Young
“I just do what I do. I like to make music.” – Neil Young
“A little love and affection in everything you do will make the world a better place with or without you.” – Neil Young
“When the punk thing came along and I heard my friends saying, I hate these people with the pins in their ears. I said, Thank God, something got their attention.” – Neil Young
“I can get away with saying a lot of ideas that are young and naive. I’m liberated.” – Neil Young
Neil Young Quotes for Music Lovers
“If you wanna write a song, ask a guitar” – Neil Young
“Learning from other people is what music is all about.” – Neil Young
“I don’t look at a knife the way I used to. I’m more aware of what it is. I think twice. This is a key finger. It’s in every chord.” – Neil Young
“I have so many opinions about everything it just comes out during my music. It’s a battle for me. I try not to be preachy. That’s a real danger.” – Neil Young
“It’s a blue album, but it’s not a blues album. I’m not pretending all of a sudden now I’m blues.” – Neil Young
“The cutthroat avenues of rock ‘n’ roll, I am fed up with. I don’t want anything to do with it.” – Neil Young
“Music is fulfilling. The next day you feel better. Drugs, the next day you feel terrible — unless you have more drugs.” – Neil Young
“The thing about my music is, there really is no point.” – Neil Young
“Holding back is so close to stealing.” – Neil Young
“Only love can break your heart.” – Neil Young
“The devil fools with the best-laid plans.” – Neil Young
Details about Neil Young
| Name | Neil Young |
| Surname | Neil Percival Young |
| Nickname | Bernard Shake |
| Born | November 12, 1945 |
| Age | 76 year old |
| Country | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Singer Musician. Song Writer. Film Maker. Environmentalist |
| Years active | 1963 – Present |
| Spouse | Susan Acevedo (m. 1968; div. 1970) Pegi Young (m. 1978; div. 2014) Daryl Hannah (m. 2018) |
| Father | Scott Young |
| Sister | Astrid Young |
| Genres | Rock. Folk Rock. Country Rock. Proto-Grunge |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals. Guitar. Harmonica |
| Website | www.neilyoungarchives.com |
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