Quotes by Tom Petty

“I have turned down a lot of money for things that would have made me feel cheesy.”

“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.”

“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 i...”

“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.”

“Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I'm concerned, that's success.”

“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.”

“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 suc...”

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

“I don't think it's a good attitude in your life to feel that you have to be rich to have self-esteem.”

“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....”

“Young people are very cynical now, you know? Very cynical! They've been taught cynicism, they've been — they've been bred cynicism. So, I think it's important to give them hope and realism in the s...”

“I think for it to be unhip to be idealistic is weird, you know? I mean, even all the best rebels to me had some sense of hope in them.”

“I don't understand the ones that have no sense of hope and invest in hate. That's not gonna work out, you know? It's a waste of your time!”

“You don't hear any more of, 'Hey, we did something creative and we turned a profit, how about that?' Everywhere we look, we want to make the most money possible. This is a dangerous, corrupt notion...”

“An act like ours wouldn't even be around today if someone hadn't brought us along and let us make mistakes and grow at our own pace. Today it seems that if you don't have a hit — or even if you do ...”

“I'm frustrated by what I hear. Maybe it's not meant for me. Personally, I'm way too bright for a lot of the hip-hop lyrics to affect. I'm much too smart to think that jewelry or how cool I am is re...”

“I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe that an artist has to take some moral responsibility for what he or she is putting out there. And I think a lot of these young kids are going to have...”

“Artists aren't necessarily business people. And they aren't necessarily aware of all the things that go on in their names. Some just want to make some music, but there is a lot of greed among artis...”

“I feel sorry for kids these days. They get so much homework. Remember the days when we put a belt around our two books and carried them home? Now they're dragging a suitcase. They have school all d...”

“If we're born in God's image, then God knows how we can fuck up. And he knows that you really didn't mean it.”