Quotes by Maynard James Keenan

“And if you don't live, you have nothing to write about.”

“...music, if it really resonates, will beat somewhere right near your heartbeat. That music will make sense to you...because it's in rhythm with your soul.”

“So crucify the ego, before it's far too late,To leave behind this place so negative and blindAnd cynical - and you will come to find that, We are all one mind capable of All that's imagined and all...”

“I believe that music is a force in itself. It is there and it needs an outlet, a medium. In a way, we are just the medium.”

“If the education of our kids comes from radio, television, newspapers - if that's where they get most of their knowledge from, and not from the schools, then the powers that be are definitely in ch...”

“Threw you the obvious and you flew with it on your back, A name in your recollection, down among a million same." - A Perfect Circle.”

“A lot of people into Tool, for some reason, are not interested in humor.”

“Tool is not Slayer. I went to art school. I spent three years in the military. There's more to me than throwing devil horns.”

“I think there’s a reason why wine figures into so many religions. There’s something transcendent about it. It’s sort of the way that music is more than the sum of its parts. You have all these elem...”

“You can grow grapes in almost any part of the world. You just have to develop your palate enough to realize wine is an expression of the place where you make it. You don't have to take over the wor...”

“For the music, it’s not about the individual — so the more you let the music speak for yourself, the more powerful the music will be.”

“It’s in my blood. My great-grandfather made wine and it’s a tradition I want to pass on to my son.”

“It's the role of us to run our government, the government by the people, for the people, and I don't think our government is listening to the people. It's our role as patriots to question them, bec...”

“Every now and then, you get people who tend to forget what this country is about, which is a melting pot of races and cultures and freedom of speech.”

“The army influences everything I do. Certainly it teaches you discipline, which is a necessary element of development. I think there's more of a collaborative understanding in the band because of t...”

“The process that we go through in recording with Tool is very organic, but at the same time it is very thought out. There is a very left-brain process of dissecting what we're doing and drawing fro...”

“One of my biggest heroes in music has been David Bowie. He's said, `I'm going to be a painter now, or I'm going to do some films,' and his audience is very forgiving, because they understand him as...”

“It's a purging of sorts. Like, when you're all done doing your laundry and it's fresh and bright, but washing the clothes, you wouldn't want to get in while it's spinning around.”

“You really should be able to feel the higher power of music and be moved by it, rather than listening to me waffle on and having to explain it.”