Don Van Vliet Quotes

Be kind, man - don't be mankind.

It's not worth getting into the bullshit to see what the bull ate.

When I see a dolphin, I know it's just as smart as I am.

There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers.

The largest living land mammal is the absent mind.

You can tell by the kindness of a dog how a human should be.

Art is rearranging and grouping mistakes.

A carrot is as close as a rabbit gets to a diamond.

We're all colored, or you wouldn't be able to see anyone.

I don't want to sell my music. I'd like to give it away because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it.

I think people have had too much to think and ought to flex their magic muscles. It takes awhile to get oriented to what I do, but people seem to be able to hear it if they give it a chance. I'd never just want to do what everybody else did. I'd be contributing to the sameness of everything.

I like the blues..... but I like aqua marine just as much.

The stars are matter, We're matter, But it doesn't matter.

If you got ears, you gotta listen.

I needed to purge myself of all the attention my parents had given me - I wasn't neglected enough as a child.

I'd never just want to do what everybody else did. I'd be contributing to the sameness of everything.

If you want to be a different fish, jump out of school.

It makes me itch to think of myself as Captain Beefheart. I don't even have a boat.

James Brown is important because he decorates the clock correctly and he's good with lower mathematics. Don't get me wrong - he's good.

I don't like getting out when I could be painting. And when I'm painting, I don't want anybody else around.

Beatle bones and smokin' stones the dry sands fall.

I'd rather play a tune on a horn, but I've always felt that I didn't want to train myself. Because when you get a train, you've got to have an engine and a caboose. I think it's better to train the caboose. You train yourself, you strain yourself.

Bob Dylan impresses me about as much as... well, I was gonna say a slug but I like slugs.

I think most people try to get others to see through their eyes.

I think that men has the most highly developed intelligence. I think men get so intelligent that they're stupid.