Ian Anderson Quotes

I think we always view people who make us feel uncomfortable and appear to intrude on our middle-class cozy space, we view them with, if not hostility, at least suspicion, discomfort, embarrassment. ~ Ian Anderson

I make up my own mind in light of available facts, with my own experience and a sense of personal ethics. ~ Ian Anderson

In most cases, my favorite Jethro Tull songs will be determined by how I feel about them as live performance songs, not by the recorded identity. ~ Ian Anderson

Why do the faithful have such a will, to believe in something? And call in the name they choose, having chosen nothing ... ~ Ian Anderson

It's only the giving that makes you what you are. ~ Ian Anderson

I can never make up my mind if I'm happy being a flute player, or if I wish I were Eric Clapton. ~ Ian Anderson

We do hear perhaps too many accolades generally aimed at people like Steve Jobs. We have to remember that there are other classic things in life that we undervalue and take them for granted. If you think of the classic lines of the modern jet aircraft, it's really been there since early World War II. ~ Ian Anderson

I think I've owned all the models of iPods so far. And these days between my iPod, iPhone and my personal laptop computer, I'm someone who is very, very grateful for all the ways to listen to music and completely switch off from people around me and listen to the music in detail, which is very hard to do if you're in a room with other people. ~ Ian Anderson

Cafe society is as old as the hills. Starbucks and its imitators are the coffee face of the new man in a hurry. ~ Ian Anderson

There's always going to be a little bit of autobiographical content to everything. It's how you lend some authority to what you write - you give it that weight by drawing on your direct experiences and indirect experiences from people that you know well, or a little. ~ Ian Anderson

I accidentally brought my graphing calculator camping. ~ Ian Anderson

I'm very much an observer and a conduit of thoughts and ideas. ~ Ian Anderson

Oh father high in heaven - smile down upon your sonWho's busy with his money games - his women and his gun. ~ Ian Anderson

I'm really terrible with small children; they're small, noisy, irritating, damp and soggy. ~ Ian Anderson

The flute was an alternative to being a small fish in an increasingly bigger pool filled with a number of great guitar players. ~ Ian Anderson

I've always been fond of acoustic music. ~ Ian Anderson

I'm very motivated by the occasional creative payoff that comes when something goes really well, be it a song, a recording or performance. The payoff is enormous - when you get it. Most of the time, though, I'm filled with self-loathing and general frustration at the limitations I have as a musician. ~ Ian Anderson

Just once I would like to persuade the audience not to wear any article of blue denim. If only they could see themselves in a pair of brown corduroys like mine instead of this awful, boring blue denim. ~ Ian Anderson

It was a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now. ~ Ian Anderson

I've always felt that some of my best lyrics are less than three minutes long, and it's great when you can do that - be succinct and get the message across in a simple, clear idea. ~ Ian Anderson

As a musician, life is not over just because you are getting older, and so I find retirement a very frightening and dark thought. ~ Ian Anderson

Our politicians may fail us, but Status Quo always delivers on the promise. ~ Ian Anderson

It was instilled in me that the money I was given was not to be lost or spent on any other purpose. ~ Ian Anderson

I'm not one for Sudoku or crosswords - the thing that fires my little brain is doing tour budgets. ~ Ian Anderson

I was not a great guitarist, so I sold my 1960 Fender Stratocaster in exchange for a Shure Microphone, made in Chicago, and a flute. ~ Ian Anderson

I don't think successful musicians were really put on this planet in order to have a great time, pat themselves on the back and say, 'Oh, what a clever boy I am!' I think that, like most artists, we were put on the planet to suffer just a little. And we do. ~ Ian Anderson

I think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first of all, has got to be put into the context of being an American cultural showcase. It's there to be a museum showcase of all that's great about American music. ~ Ian Anderson

There seems to be an inclination among rock musicians to be very carefree with money, but I negotiate the best flight and hotel deals on our tours to maximise the band's income - I don't want too see too much taken off the top line. ~ Ian Anderson

But the tune ends too soon for us all ~ Ian Anderson

Question all as to their ways and learn the secrets that they hold ~ Ian Anderson

I think it's really the job of the composer, the artist, the painter, the writer to present people with options. I'm just really reflecting the thoughts and actions around me. ~ Ian Anderson

Most people, from their second album on, find it much harder to be as spontaneously creative as they were with their first couple of records, and some people only have one thing that they do. ~ Ian Anderson

Writing lyrics is part spontaneous, intuitive and part really thought through and carefully analyzed as you write it. It's a mixture of two approaches, and I imagine writing anything is like that, really. Some of it just flows, and you just go with it. ~ Ian Anderson

Walk the lines of nature's palm crossed with silver and with gold. ~ Ian Anderson

As a songwriter, you tend to develop your own style, your own technique, based around what it is you're trying to write and perform, in terms of your own music. So a way of evolving a guitar style as a songwriter is much easier, I think, than developing a true style of your own just from listening to music or playing other people's music. ~ Ian Anderson

All the time I was playing the flute, the lines, the solos, the riffs, the construction, were based on my guitar skills. I did not play the flute to exploit its natural faculties, but I used it as a surrogate guitar. ~ Ian Anderson

Bring me a wheel of oaken wood A rein of polished leather A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky Brewing heavy weather. ~ Ian Anderson

Another tea-time, another day older. ~ Ian Anderson

When punk and new wave styles exploded in the late '70s, some established artists were nimble enough to respond to the changes around them. Some grumbled, "What am I supposed to do, forget how to play?", and continued to ride their dinosaurs into extinction, but others willingly adapted to the streamlining and back-to-basics urges of the times, without giving up all they had learned. Former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel, for example, or former Yes keyboardist Trevor Horn, continued to produce vital, influential music through the '80s and '90s. Ian Anderson has continued to lead Jethro Tull out of the '60s and '70s and quietly through the decades, making high quality music and finding a large enough audience to continue recording and touring worldwide. ~ Neil Peart

I suppose when I started playing guitar, it was the means to an end. I never thought of myself as a fully fledged guitar instrumentalist. And my early excursions on the electric guitar were curtailed when Eric Clapton came on the scene, and I decided I was never going to be in the same arena as a Clapton or a Peter Green. ~ Ian Anderson

If Jesus Christ came back today, He and I would get into our brown corduroys and go to the nearest jean store and overturn the racks of blue denim. ~ Ian Anderson

It's nice to be recognized, but it's not great to have it too conspicuously recognized, if you see what I mean. Gold records on the wall, or titles after your name, it's just not something ... I don't feel that great about it. ~ Ian Anderson

'Aqualung' marks the point at which I had the confidence as a songwriter and as a guitar player to actually pick up and play the guitar and be at the forefront of the band. It's also the album on which I began to address religious issues in my music, and I think that happened simply because the time was right for it. ~ Ian Anderson

Touring is what you make it. I like to organise as much as possible myself. ~ Ian Anderson

I was always more interested in the ultimate live performance rather than the recording for its own sake. And, for the audience too, that thrill of - just being there. ~ Ian Anderson

If you're gonna use simile, analogy, metaphor, be descriptive and have some flowery adjectives and a few odd nouns and some engaging bits of dialogue or sentiment, then you're sort of writing a novel, really. But rock lyrics are not really known for their sophistication. ~ Ian Anderson

My old black cat, he passed away this morning. He never knew what a heartache was. Woke up late and he danced till noon. If questioned why, answered just because. He never spoke much, preferring silence. Eight lost lives was all he had. ~ Ian Anderson

Seek that which within lies waiting to begin the fight of your life that is everyday.~ Ian Anderson ~ Ian Anderson

A guy called Arthur Brown ... was a big influence of mine ... and also Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull. ~ Bruce Dickinson

I kind of like the idea of living a rather ordinary life as a shopkeeper, and I examine that possibility as one of the outcomes of the young Gerald Bostock growing older. ~ Ian Anderson

I do find myself surprised by the comedy shows that seem to have the same joke week in week out. ~ Clive Anderson

Nay, Nay! Try thou not.
But do thou or do thou not,
For there is no try. ~ Ian Doescher

This is from Elizabeth," it said. "She has sold Havenhurst." A pang of guilt and shock sent Ian to his feet as he read the rest of the note: "I am to tell you that this is payment in full, plus appropriate interest, for the emeralds she sold, which, she feels, rightfully belonged to you."
Swallowing audibly, Ian picked up the bank draft and the small scrap of paper with it. On it Elizabeth herself had shown her calculation of the interest due him for the exact number of days since she'd sold the gems, until the date of her bank draft a week ago.
His eyes ached with unshed tears while his shoulders began to rock with silent laughter-Elizabeth had paid him half a percent less than the usual interest rate.
Thirty minutes later Ian presented himself to Jordan's butler and asked to see Alexandra. She walked into the room with accusation and ire shooting from her blue eyes as she said scornfully, "I wondered if that note would bring you here. Do you have any notion how much Havenhurst means-meant-to her?"
"I'll get it back for her," he promised with a somber smile. "Where is she?"
Alexandra's mouth fell open at the tenderness in his eyes and voice.
"Where is she?" he repeated with calm determination.
"I cannot tell you," Alex said with a twinge of regret.
"You know I cannot. I gave my word."
"Would it have the slightest effect," Ian countered smoothly, "if I were to ask Jordan to exert his husbandly influence to persuade you to tell me a ~ Judith McNaught

The geek of the Earth are a tribe and they are mighty. ~ Ian McDonald

Try thou not. But do thou or do thou not, For there is no ~ Ian Doescher

We had something very special in the Faces. We were blessed to have the fun we had. ~ Ian McLagan

At the back of my mind I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up since I didn't seem to be getting any better at goalkeeping. ~ Ian Colquhoun

When everyone zigs, zag ~ Stephen Anderson

It's all based around the idea that basically VW cars are space age. They're the worst cars to use in action movie, because all the things you want to traditionally do in an action movie they won't allow you to do, because they make you drive safely if you want to or not. ~ Paul W. S. Anderson

Talking of his relationship with Jarrett, DeJohnette says, "I love him because, as a pianist and drummer myself, I can identify with him … the concept of what to ignore, what to leave in, what to leave out… we intuitively understand that … that's why when we play together… we never know what's going to happen, but we always get something happening that turns us on. ~ Ian Carr

It takes an unusually philosophic mind to accept that all one's suffering might be to no end, really, in the larger scheme of things. ~ Ian C. Esslemont

One important theme is the extent to which one can ever correct an error, especially outside any frame of religious forgiveness. All of us have done something we regret - how we manage to remove that from our conscience, or whether that's even possible, interested me. ~ Ian McEwan

In Singapore, Malcolm X type of activity would be extremely difficult because the government can be very harsh on lawbreakers. ~ Ian McKellen

Yeah, if someone's selling downloads and collecting money for our songs I would be unhappy about that but if they're trading it I don't mind, obviously if I make a thousand records or CDs or whatever, I like to sell a thousand. ~ Ian MacKaye

Learning what you don't want to do is the next best thing to figuring out what you want to do. ~ Anderson Cooper

It is just that she was fifteen once for the first time, and Peter walked across her heart and left his footprints there. ~ Jodi Lynn Anderson

She said she thought there were different ways of loving someone, and there were some she used to think were the most important, and now she had changed her mind. ~ Jodi Lynn Anderson

Jewel of life, guiding light, heralding a joyous new dawn. ~ Jon Anderson

Mace leaned on his shovel and did a passable imitation. "'I think we'd rather not.' Very good, guv'nor. I'll remember that next time."
"Divigation was nice. Where'd you get that one?"
"He swallowed a ****ing dictionary," Corporal Nettle said proudly. ~ Ian McEwan

From where I sat, Peter and Wendy were the two loneliest figures in the world. But Peter was somehow the lonelier of the two. ~ Jodi Lynn Anderson

Toward the end of the summer, they went to London, although the city was still somewhat deserted, the Little Season having not yet begun. Elizabeth agreed because she thought it would be convenient for him to be nearer the men with whom he invested large sums of money in complex ventures, and because Alex would be there. Ian went because he wanted Elizabeth to enjoy the position of prestige in society she was entitled to-and because he enjoyed showing her off in the setting where she sparkled like the jewels he lavished on her. He knew she regarded him as a combination of loving benefactor and wise teacher, but in that last regard, Ian knew she was wrong, for Elizabeth was teaching him, too. By her own example, she taught him to be patient with servants; she taught him to relax; and she taught him that next to lovemaking, laughter was undoubtedly life's most pleasant diversion. At her insistence, he even learned to look tolerantly upon the foolish foibles of many of the ton's members. ~ Judith McNaught

Others wonder, if the Bogey isn't wearing his pants, who is? ~ Jodi Lynn Anderson

I usually set aside a lot of time in advance of a movie with important roles for kids to search, but when you have great ones, they can be a real ace in the hole. ~ Wes Anderson

Ian Ashby is very underrated and it's right he gets the accolades he gets ~ Paul Merson

I grit my teeth to hold in the sob that wants to break free from my throat. I'm getting so fucking sick of how much the guilt of hurting him burns. I didn't kill anyone. I didn't ruin his life. He ruined mine. ~ Annie Anderson

Our teaching of mathematics revolves around a fundamental conflict. Rightly or wrongly, students are required to master a series of mathematical concepts and techniques, and anything that might divert them from doing so is deemed unnecessary. Putting mathematics into its cultural context, explaining what is has done for humanity, telling the story of its historical development, or pointing out the wealth of unsolved problems or even the existence of topics that do not make it into school textbooks leaves less time to prepare for the exam. So most of these things aren't discussed. ~ Ian Stewart

I don't think I was awake for much of my childhood. I did a lot of napping. This might have been a defensive measure against encroaching depression. Until about the age of eleven or twelve, I had zero interests other than trying to steal gumballs from supermarket gumball machines. ~ Michael Ian Black

If you were just intent on killing people you could do better with a bomb made of agricultural fertiliser. ~ Ian Hacking

Early in my conscious life one of my fingers, not then subject to my influence, brushed past a shrimp-like protuberance between my legs. And though shrimp and fingertip lay at differing distances from my brain, they felt each other simultaneously, a diverting issue in neuroscience known as the binding problem. ~ Ian McEwan

What you did was very brave," Aunt Sticky Feet said, her words clipped but not unkind, "but men don't want women who are brave. They want women who make them feel like men."
"I don't care about that," Tiger Lily said quietly. ~ Jodi Lynn Anderson

The strong take from the weak, but the smart take from the strong. ~ Ian Caldwell

Aki: You're going to kill yourself eating those. Or do vampires not have to worry about clogged arteries?
Edgar: We do, but I'm young and therefore invincible. ~ Ian Isaro