Quotes

“We don't really make bad records, though some people might like some more than others. And we have never really done a bad show. So I think in a way maybe we've been taken for granted.” Tom Petty

“TV does not care about you or what happens to you. It's downright bad for your health now, and that's not a far-out concept. I think watching the TV news is bad for you. It is bad for your physical health and your mental health.” Tom Petty

“'Free Fallin'' is a very good song. Maybe it would be one of my favorites if it hadn't become this huge anthem. But I'm grateful that people like it.” Tom Petty

“There used to be this real sense of community integrity in rock. It has really eroded. Everyone seems to be on their own now.” Tom Petty

“I don't know, my music has always just come from where the wind blew me. Like where I'm at during a particular moment in time.” Tom Petty

“I've never had any idea that what I like would resonate with the audience, and I'm pleasantly surprised when it does.” Tom Petty

“I think television's become a downright dangerous thing. It has no moral barometer whatsoever. If you want to talk about something that is all about money, just watch the television.” Tom Petty

“When I met Elvis, we didn't really have a conversation. I was introduced by my uncle, and he sort of grunted my way. What stays with me is the whole scene. I had never seen a real mob scene before. I was really young and impressionable. Elvis really did look - he looked sort of not real, as if he were glowing.” Tom Petty

“I tend to write on an acoustic guitar or the piano. I have kind of a rule: if I can't sit down and play this and get the song over, I don't take it to the band, because most any good song, you can sit down and deliver it with a piano or a guitar.” Tom Petty

“I think that if people realize that with an mp3, you're only getting five percent of the sound that's there. But when you hear the entire thing... I think it would save the music business. It's such a drastic change.” Tom Petty

“You get into your late fifties, people start falling like flies all around you. I don't take life for granted any more. I'm really glad to be here.” Tom Petty

“The music business looks like, you know, innocent schoolboys compared to the TV business. They care about nothing but profit.” Tom Petty

“When you get older, your health becomes important to you, things start breaking down, you've always got a different ache or pain.” Tom Petty

“It's very easy to be cynical about the hall of fame. But on the other hand, it's really a beautiful thing for someone like me. I dedicated my entire life to this music.” Tom Petty

“I don't treat the band like I'm above them or that they're a hired hand for me. We've never worked that way. So I'm a team player. I would be very uncomfortable having to do this alone.” Tom Petty

“Rock n' roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the 'roll' and called it 'rock,' which became a sort of umbrella term for anything with a guitar in it. Like hair bands. How could we possibly believe that? It's just gotten downright silly, to the point where now it's sort of become like professional wrestling.” Tom Petty

“Making a record? You've got to have the song, then you create a record. I think it's the same with a live performance. If the material is strong, you're already 90% there. I always tell young people it's all about the music, the songs. Work on the songs, work on the songs, work on the songs.” Tom Petty

“The energy of the crowd is insane. Twenty thousand people. It's the biggest jolt of adrenaline. It's very hard to explain. You know the old story about the woman lifting the car off her kid? It's in that realm. You can actually hurt yourself and not know it.” Tom Petty

“I love history, doesn't matter what era, I'm fascinated.” Tom Petty

“I would never put my songs in a commercial.” Tom Petty

“The first time I tried to write was when I was 14, after I got an electric guitar. I put a song together, and it wasn't that bad! The writing came natural to me.” Tom Petty

“The great thing about the Wilburys was that none of us had to take the heat by ourselves. I was just a member of the band. Nobody felt like he was above anybody else. We had such a good time.” Tom Petty

“When I go to see people, I always kind of hope they are going to play some kind of songs I know. So you've got to know your audience. It's kind of something that is a blessing and a curse in a way. You're obligated to play some of that stuff that people know, but I don't think that's all you have to do.” Tom Petty

“The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough.” George Edward Moore

“A great artist is always before his time or behind it.” George Edward Moore

“Faith goes out through the window when beauty comes in at the door.” George Edward Moore

“It does not matter how badly you paint so long as you don't paint badly like other people.” George Edward Moore

“The lot of critics is to be remembered by what they failed to understand.” George Edward Moore

“All moral laws are merely statements that certain kinds of actions will have good effects.” George Edward Moore

“I believe that two people are connected at the heart, and it doesn't matter what you do, or who you are or where you live; there are no boundaries or barriers if two people are destined to be together.” Julia Roberts