I'm always looking upwards and looking forwards and so when someone says, "Hey, would you consider a TV show?" I say, "Hell yeah, I'll consider that. I'll check that out." Henry Rollins More Quotes by Henry Rollins More Quotes From Henry Rollins All good writers inspire me as I have never thought I was any good. As far as a writer who made me think I could do it, it was Henry Miller. Not because I thought he was so simple that I reckoned I could pull it off as well, but it was his freedom and guts that really moved me to want to write all the time. Henry Rollins simple writing thinking With writing, there are multiple drafts. On stage, there is one take. I do a lot of preparation for shows, so, for the most part, what you hear me say is pretty much what I wanted to get at. Henry Rollins stage preparation writing I like how I write better than how I speak. Henry Rollins speak writing For me, speaking to anyone - on a stage, in an elevator - I am looking for impact and connection. The same goes for writing. Henry Rollins impact connections writing Most of the writers I like just intimidate and humble me but in that there's a good deal of inspiration to be had as well. Henry Rollins intimidating inspiration humble When I write lyrics, it's only when I'm angry or hurt or sad. So lyrically it's never really easy going. And the music is always really intense. Henry Rollins intense hurt writing I do think that Americans are poorly served by their media, at times extremely poorly served by their elected officials who are non responsive to majority feelings and cut off to a certain degree from the affairs of the world. Henry Rollins cutting media thinking I don't need music for the good times. I don't have that kind of need. Music doesn't serve me like that. Henry Rollins good-times kind needs I get a lot of shit because I put "I" in the lyrics all the time. The "I" is always for someone else... When I say "I," it's so that when that person is singing along with the song, it empowers them. Henry Rollins empowering singing song I just write what I think is good and keep it at a thousand words. Henry Rollins thousand writing thinking I lay off a lot modern fiction and only rely on living writers for non-fiction work. Henry Rollins rely modern fiction I think I am the most impressed with writing styles that defy category, like Kharms or Selby, Breton or Jarry, where you become as interested in the writer as much as the writing itself. It's all these things that make reading so appealing to me. Henry Rollins reading writing thinking My mother taught me how to read very early on and at school I was ahead of everyone in class... Reading was always something that I liked because I could do it alone and I was alone a lot of the time with my mother working the hours she did. Books became my friends very early on. Henry Rollins reading mother book As far as poetry, I don't know if I've ever written any. I've read a lot. I just write and it comes out in different forms and shapes. I don't know if I'm any good at it I just really go for it and I'm very prolific book wise only because I own the company. No one tells me 'no' around here. Henry Rollins wise writing book I live my life through the prism of capitalism and physiological limits and eventualities. In all of that, there is no spirituality required. No God and karma is needed for the numbers. I live my life by the numbers. Not only am I an American, I am an Americanist. Henry Rollins karma limits numbers I think that one of the hardest things in the world to be is a black male. I mean everyone hates your guts. White men are afraid of you. White women are afraid of you. The cops hate you. The government wants you dead. Your own people want to shoot you for what you got. You just can't get over it. And even if you are able to get over it you're forced to do it on the white guy's terms. Henry Rollins hate men mean Capitalism does what it does and money doesn't belong to anybody. It just stays in someone's wallet for a while, then it goes somewhere else. It always goes somewhere and it is always about to go somewhere. Henry Rollins wallets somewhere-else doe I don't get a rush from anything. I did music as hard as I could. Acting for me at least, is a far more restrained performance than music. It requires a lot of skill and discipline. I'm not any good at it but I enjoy trying to be good at it. Henry Rollins discipline skills trying I can tell you exactly where the economy is going. It's going to China, Honduras, Guatemala, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cipan, and any other place where you can pay people peanuts and have them work like dogs. Henry Rollins vietnam dog people I was never told to "Get up, get out there, get a job." It was never a thing either parent ever said I had to do. It was what I wanted to do. I think I was very interested in being away from them as much as possible. Employment was great for that. Henry Rollins parent jobs thinking
