Holly Near Quotes

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Peace can start with just one heart.

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

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

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.

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

Time has passed through me and become a song.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People love to hear the mistakes you've made.

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

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

The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

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.