Neil Peart

“All preordainedA prisoner in chainsA victim of venomous fateKicked in the faceYou can't pray for a placeIn heaven's unearthly estateEach of usA cell of awarenessImperfect and incompleteGenetic blendsWith uncertain endsOn a fortune hunt that's far too fleet”

“The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect,So hard to earn so easily burnedIn the fullness of time,A garden to nurture and protectIt's a measure of a lifeThe treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect,The way you live, the gifts that you giveIn the fullness of time,It's the only return that you expect”

“excitement is found along the road, not at the end, and likewise, peace is not a fixed point-except perhaps in the unwanted "rest in peace" sense. PEACE is the breathing space between destinations, between excitements, an occasional part of the journey, if you're lucky. PEACE is a space you move through very rarely, and very briefly-but your not allowed to stay there.you have to keep moving, and go do what you do.because you can...”

“-i was "far and away"-riding my motorcycle along an american back road, skiing through the snowy Quebec woods, or lying awake in a backwater motel. the theme i was grappling with was nothing less than the Meaning of Life, and i was pretty sure i had defined it: love and respect.love and respect, love and respect-i have been carrying those words around with me for two years, daring to consider that perhaps they convey the real meaning of life. beyond basic survival needs, everybody wants to be loved and respected. and neither is any good without the other. love without respect can be as cold as pity; respect without love can be as grim as fear.love and respect are the values in life that most contribute to "the pursuit of happiness"-and after, they are the greatest legacy we can leave behind. it's an elegy you'd like to hear with your own ears: "you were loved and respected."if even one person can say that about you, it's a worthy achievement, and if you can multiply that many times-well, that is true success.among materialists, a certain bumper sticker is emblematic: "he who dies with the most toys wins!"well, no-he or she who dies with the most love and respect wins...then there's love and respect for oneself-equally hard to achieve and maintain. most of us, deep down, are not as proud of ourselves as we might pretend, and the goal of bettering ourselves-at least partly by earning the love and respect of others-is a lifelong struggle.Philo of Alexandria gave us that generous principle that we have somehow succeeded in mostly ignoring for 2,000 years: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

“books, i think, are a different kind of time machine. instead of reminding you of a lost world, they create one for you. more personal, more intimate-unlike movies, say, the world you experience while reading a book has been lived and envisioned entirely from the INSIDE, and its contours are yours alone.”

“From the point of ignition. To the final drive. The point of the journey is not to arrive.”

“You can't get wise with sleep still in your eyes no matter what your dream might be.”

“Half the world criesHalf the world laughsHalf the world triesTo be the other half”

“You can twist perceptionreality won"t budgeyou can raise objection I won2t be judge and jury”

“Courageous convictions will drag the dream into existence.”

“From first to last, the peak is never passed. Something always fires the light that gets in your eyes.”

“Adventures suck when you're having them.”

“No changes are permanent, but change is.”

“I can worship Nature, and that fulfills my need for miracles and beauty. Art gives a spiritual depth to existence -- I can find worlds bigger and deeper than my own in music, paintings, and books. And from my friends and family I receive the highest benediction, emotional contact, and personal affirmation. I can bow before the works of Man, from buildings to babies, and that fulfills my need for wonder. I can believe in the sanctity of Life, and that becomes the Revealed Word, to live my life as I believe it should be, not as I'm told to by self-appointed guides.”

“Could hell be a place where there is no self-respect? A place where people have no pride in their own existence or behavior, and thus would have none for anyone or anything else?”

“I even felt a vicarious guilt, like a German meeting Jewish people in Poland who had never heard of the Holocaust, or that there were Jews in America, and trying to explain it to them. Ashea, I wished I could say. Ashea.”

“You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice. If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill. I will choose a path thats clear. I will choose Freewill.”

“Don't try to change Doofus, let Doofus change you.”

“Geddy once joked, 'You're the only guy I know who rehearses to rehearse!”

“A quality of justiceA quantity of lightA particle of mercyMakes the color of right”

“Half the world hatesWhat half the world does every dayHalf the world waitsWhile half gets on with it anyway”

“A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission.”

“Each of usA cell of awarenessImperfect and incompleteGenetic blendsWith uncertain endsOn a fortune hunt that's far too fleet”

“If the future's looking dark, We're the ones who have to shine. If there's no one in control, We're the ones who draw the line. Though we live in trying times, We're the ones who have to try. And we know that time has wings, So we're the ones who have to fly.”

“If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.”

“You can surrender without a prayer, but never really pray without surrender. You can fight without ever winning, but never ever win without a fight.”