450 Quotes by Tom Waits

If I exorcise my devils, all my angels may go, too.

If you can make a little painting for the ears with a few words, well, I like words: I like cutting them up and finding different ways of saying the same thing. I get into a spell, and it all comes easy. I don't labor over it. I go inside the song. I think you make yourself an antenna for songs, and songs want to be around you. And then they bring other songs along, and then they're all sittin' around, and they're drinking your beer, and they're sleeping on the floor. And they are using the phone. They're rude, thankless little f-ers.

Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.

On my gravestone, I want it to say, "I told you I was sick."

I'm just trying to make a buck like everyone else.

I’ve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.

The moon was sharp enough to draw blood from a stone

You almost have to create situations in order to write about them, so I live in a constant state of self-imposed poverty. I don't want to live any other way.

You cannot really be too concerned with what people think of you. You're on your own adventure of growth and discovery. So it's not always good to be who people think you are, especially if you subscribe to it as well ... which is easily done, because then you don't have to figure out who you are, you just ask somebody else.