BOB DYLAN'S BEST QUOTES

 
 
New York Times said it was the coldest winter in seventeen years; I didn't feel so cold then.
-- Talkin New York

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind. 
-- Blowin' in the Wind

It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. 
-- A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

Half of the people can be part right all of the time,
Some of the people can be all right part of the time.
But all the people can't be all right all of the time.
I think Abraham Lincoln said that. 
-- Talkin' World War III Blues

"I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours," I said that.
-- Talkin' World War III Blues

You better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
-- The Times They are a-Changin'

Unlike most of the songs nowadays being written uptown in Tin Pan Alley, that's where most of the folk songs come from nowadays...this wasn't written up there, this was written somewhere down in the United States...
-- Bob Dylan's Blues

Well, lookit here buddy, you want to be like me
Pull out your six-shooter, rob every bank you can see ... 
Tell the judge I said it was all right
-- Bob Dylan's Blues

Call me any name you like, I will never deny it
Farewell Angelina, the sky is erupting
I must go where it's quiet.
-- Farewell Angelina

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail, the sky cracked its poems in naked wonder...
Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales, for the disrobed faceless forms of no position...
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed, for the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse, an' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe, an' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
-- The Chimes of Freedom

I'm a clean-cut kid, and I been to college, too."
-- Motorpsycho Nightmare

"You are unpatriotic, rotten doctor Commie rat." 
-- Motorpsycho Nightmare

Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.
-- My Back Pages

I'm just average, common too
I'm just like him, the same as you
I'm everybody's brother and son
I ain't different from anyone
It ain't no use a-talking to me
It's just the same as talking to you. 
-- I Shall Be Free No. 10

Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree
I want ev'rybody to be free
But if you think that I'll let Barry Goldwater
Move in next door and marry my daughter
You must think I'm crazy!
I wouldn't let him do it for all the farms in Cuba.
-- I Shall Be Free No. 10

If anybody asks me, "Is it easy to forget?"
I'll say, "It's easily done, You just pick anyone,
An' pretend that you never have met!" 
-- I Don't Believe You

You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows 
-- Subterranean Homesick Blues

Twenty years of schoolin' 
And then they put you on the day shift 
-- Subterranean Homesick Blues

The pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handles 
-- Subterranean Homesick Blues

Well, I try my best to be just like I am,
But everybody wants you to be just like them. 
-- Maggie's Farm

Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, how come you don't move? 
-- On the Road Again

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind, down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,the haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach, far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow. 
-- Mr. Tambourine Man

The motorcycle black madonna two-wheeled gypsy queen
And her silver-studded phantom cause the gray flannel dwarf to scream 
-- Gates of Eden

Paupers change possessions, each one wishing for what the other has got 
-- Gates of Eden

He not busy being born is busy dying.
-- It's Alright, Ma ( I'm Only Bleeding )

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred. 
-- It's Alright, Ma ( I'm Only Bleeding )

Even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked. 
-- It's Alright, Ma ( I'm Only Bleeding )

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in. 
-- It's Alright, Ma ( I'm Only Bleeding )

Money doesn't talk, it swears 
-- It's Alright, Ma ( I'm Only Bleeding )

She's a hypnotist collector, you are a walking antique.
-- She Belongs to Me

She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all.
-- Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Don't ask me nothin' about nothin',
I just might tell you the truth.
-- Outlaw Blues

You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
--Like a Rolling Stone

When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
-- Like a Rolling Stone

You will not die, it's not poison
-- Tombstone Blues

The sun's not yellow it's chicken
-- Tombstone Blues

Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
He could die happily ever after
-- Tombstone Blues

Now the rovin' gambler he was very bored
He was tryin' to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes I think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it out on Highway 61.
-- Highway 61

All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
-- Desolation Row

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk ...
You would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row
-- Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke) ...
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row
-- Desolation Row

Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
-- Ballad of a Thin Man

Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles 
-- Visions of Johanna

The harmonicas play the skeleton keys of the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain
-- Visions of Johanna

Now the rainman gave me two cures,
Then he said, "Jump right in."
The one was Texas medicine,
The other was just railroad gin.
An' like a fool I mixed them
An' it strangled up my mind,
An' now people just get uglier
An' I have no sense of time.
-- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

An' here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice.
--Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

I got a poison headache, but I feel all right.
-- Pledging My Time

You know it balances on your head
Just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
-- Leopardskin Pillbox Hat

Well, anybody can be just like me, obviously
But then, now again, not too many can be like you, fortunately.
-- Absolutely Sweet Marie

But you live outside the law, you must be honest
-- Absolutely Sweet Marie

And I, I never took much, I never asked for your crutch.
Now don't ask for mine.
-- 4th Time Around

You drink bitter water
And you been eating the bread of sorrow
You can't live for today
When all you're ever thinking of is tomorrow ...
Ye shall be changed, ye shall be changed
In a twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet blows
The dead will arise and burst out of your clothes
And ye shall be changed
-- Ye Shall Be Changed

My only prayer is, if I can't be there, Lord, protect my child
-- Lord Protect My Child

There'll be a time I hear tell when all will be well
When God and man will be reconciled
But until men lose their chains and righteousness reigns
Lord, protect my child
-- Lord Protect My Child

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
-- Gotta Serve Somebody

Don't let me drift too far, keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed.
And that which you've given me today is worth more than I could pay and no matter what they say, I believe in you.
-- I Believe in You

You remember only about the brass ring,
You forget all about the golden rule.
--Gonna Change My Way of Thinking

Don't put my faith in nobody, not even a scientist.
-- Do Right to Me Baby

The iron hand it ain't no match for the iron rod,
The strongest wall will crumble and fall to a mighty God.
-- When He Returns

How long can you falsify and deny what is real?
How long can you hate yourself for the weakness you conceal?
-- When He Returns

For like a thief in the night, He'll replace wrong with right
When He returns.
-- When He Returns

Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground. 
-- Precious Angel

Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself.
I'm a little too blind to see.
-- Precious Angel

Do you ever wonder just what God requires?  You think He's just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires.
-- When You Gonna Wake Up?

There's a Man on a cross and He's been crucified for you.
Believe in His power, that's about all you've got to do. 
-- When You Gonna Wake Up?

I was blinded by the devil, born already ruined,
Stone-cold dead as I stepped out of the womb.
By His grace I have been touched,
By His word I have been healed,
By His hand I've been delivered,
By His spirit I've been sealed.
I've been saved by the blood of the lamb
-- Saved

I've been broken, shattered like an empty cup.                        I'm just waiting on the Lord to rebuild and fill me up
And I know He will do it 'cause He's faithful and He's true
-- Covenant Woman

Pulled me out of bondage and You made me renewed inside,
Filled up a hunger that had always been denied
-- What Can I Do for You

Who would deliver him from the death he's bound to die?
Well, You've done it all and there's no more anyone can pretend to do.
-- What Can I Do for You

I've escaped death so many times, I know I'm only living
By the saving grace that's over me.
-- Saving Grace

The wicked know no peace and you just can't fake it,
There's only one road and it leads to Calvary.
-- Saving Grace

I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
-- Every Grain of Sand

You were born with a snake in both of your fists 
While a hurricane was blowing. 
-- Jokerman

Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, 
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers. 
-- Jokerman

You can be known as the most beautiful woman
Who ever crawled across cut glass to make a deal.
-- Sweetheart Like You

They say in your father's house, there's many mansions
Each one of them got a fireproof floor.
-- Sweetheart Like You

They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings.
Steal a little and they throw you in jail,
Steal a lot and they make you king.
-- Sweetheart Like You

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
-- Neighborhood Bully

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
-- Neighborhood Bully

He can ride down Niagara Falls in the barrels of your skull.
-- Man of Peace

Well, the howling wolf will howl tonight,
The king snake will crawl,
Trees that've stood for a thousand years
Suddenly will fall...
He could be standing next to you,
The person that you'd notice least.
I hear that sometimes 
Satan comes as a man of peace.
-- Man of Peace

I saw thousands who could have overcome the darkness, 
For the love of a lousy buck, I've watched them die. 
-- When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky

You will seek me and you'll find me 
In the wasteland of your mind 
When the night comes falling from the sky. 
-- When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky

Oh, the tree of life is growing where the spirit never dies
And the bright light of salvation shines in dark and empty skies ... Just remember that death is not the end
-- Death Is Not the End

 


 
 
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