Poetry's always dead, you know? You don't realize how good poetry is until 15 years later. Richard Hell More Quotes by Richard Hell More Quotes From Richard Hell I'm not into this memoir craze that's been going on for 20 years now and doesn't seem to ever let up. People just indiscriminately say "memoir" now when it's a person writing about their own life. Richard Hell writingpeopleyears I usually don't think of anyone ever suspecting that I might be someone who'd cry at stuff. I cry at movies all the time. And sometimes it really pisses me off because I hate it when they're just jerking my chain and it's just like completely manipulative. Richard Hell hatemightthinking I've come to think of myself as a writer of books. Richard Hell bookthinking There's nothing left of my hometown in Kentucky. All those small and mid-sized towns and cities in the U.S. are just about malls around the edges and suburbs. That was definitely a loss, because everything just gets homogenized. You can't tell where you are, it's all the same. Richard Hell kentuckycitiesloss You realize there are certain things that you'll never do that you always thought would be part of your future. It's a big relief to discover what you are best suited for, and it's a real advantage to be able then to focus. Richard Hell relieffocusreal An autobiography is a life story. It starts when you're born and continues until the end. Richard Hell bornendsstories I love a good play, but they're too hard to find. Richard Hell hardplay It's really interesting with art-movies too, but art especially - to see how your attitude toward artists and works and your level of appreciation of them is always shifting and changing over the years. Richard Hell attitudeappreciationart I felt just overwhelmed by input: the Vietnam War and the collapse of the '60s and the proliferation of media' it just felt like everything was too much to handle and you just tuned out. Richard Hell vietnammediawar I decided I wanted out because it was killing me, and I couldnt see where to go with it that wouldnt be fatal. Richard Hell decidedkillingwanted Well, I thought the Sex Pistols were the cream of the crop. They came in and topped everybody, for sure. They took all the existing strands and made a perfect package out of them. Richard Hell pistolsperfectsex It used to be that artists thought of nature as their environment. Now media is our environment. It has been for the past 50, 70 years. It's what you see on TV, on the computer, what is in the magazines and newspapers. Richard Hell mediaartistpast I remember the revelation it was to me when I realized I'd rather be smart in the way Elvis Presley was than in the way, say, Ludwig Wittgenstein was. The thing was, you could imagine you could be smart like Wittgenstein by just thinking hard enough, but Elvis just had it. It was almost spiritual. A kind of grace. Richard Hell smartspiritualthinking
