82 Inspirational Quotes By Tom Waits

I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.

Me Like I

Tom Waits  

There ain't no devil, only God when he's drunk.

God

Tom Waits  

We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. We are monkeys with money and guns.

Tom Waits  

Well I got a bad liver and broken heart, yeah,I drunk me a river since you tore me apart

Me Heart I

Tom Waits  

Well, it's either kiss me or kill me, that's how I see it.

Me I

Tom Waits  

I don't have a drinking problem 'Cept when I can't get a drink.

I

Tom Waits  

The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.

Tom Waits  

It ain't no sin, to take off your skin and dance around in your bones

Tom Waits  

You can learn a lot about a woman by getting smashed with her.

You

Tom Waits  

Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.

Tom Waits  

A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't.

Tom Waits  

And the earth died screaming, while I lay dreaming...

I

Tom Waits  

Most of the people I admire, they usually smell funny and don't get out much. It's true. Most of them are either dead or not feeling well.

I

Tom Waits  

Oh, I'm not a percussionist, I just like to hit things.

Like I

Tom Waits  

The earth is not my home, I'm just passing by

Tom Waits  

I don't go to church on Sunday, don't get on my knees to pray, or memorize the books of the Bible, I got my own special way

I

Tom Waits  

I hate Disneyland. It primes our kids for Las Vegas.

I

Tom Waits  

The piano has been drinking, not me.

Me

Tom Waits  

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

Me

Tom Waits  

All that you've loved is all you own

You

Tom Waits  

The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.

Tom Waits  

I've lost my equilibrium, my car keys, and my pride.

Tom Waits  

I've been riding on the crest of a slump lately.

Tom Waits  

And the things you can’t remember tell the things you can’t forget that history puts a saint in every dream.

You

Tom Waits  

I ain't got no spare/I ain't got no jack/I don't give a shit/I'm not going back

I

Tom Waits  

Oh I don't mind going to weddings, just as long as it's not my own...

I

Tom Waits  

It's very hard to stop doing things you're used to doing. You almost have to dismantle yourself and scatter it all around and then put a blindfold on and put it back together so that you avoid old habits.

You Together Yourself

Tom Waits  

You got to tell me the brave captain Why are the wicked so strong? How do the angels get to sleep When the devil leaves the porch light on?

You Me

Tom Waits  

Time is just memory Mixed in with Desire.

Time

Tom Waits  

They say that I have no hits and that I'm difficult to work with. And they say that like it's a bad thing.

Like I

Tom Waits  

But it's so hard to dance that way when it's cold and there's no music.

Music

Tom Waits  

We are all just monkeys with money and guns.

Tom Waits  

Never have your wallet with you onstage. It's bad luck. You shouldn't play the piano with money in your pocket. Play like you need the money. Tom Waits (to me, about 1986 or so)

You Me Never Like Need

Tom Waits  

Let me fall out of the window/ With confetti in my hair

Me

Tom Waits  

The Universe is making music all the time.

Time Music

Tom Waits  

When the weather's rough and it's whiskey in the rain it's best to wrap your savior up in cellophane.

Tom Waits  

I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train...

Tom Waits  

The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.

Tom Waits  

Sing me a rainbow. Steal me a dream.

Me

Tom Waits  

Your old home town's so far away, but inside your head there's a record that's playing, a song called 'Hold On

Tom Waits  

I walked 500 miles just to see a halo, when I opened my eyes I was blind as can be.

I

Tom Waits  

Slept all night in the cedar grove, i was born to ramble, born to rove, some men are searchin' for the holy grail, but there ain't nothin' sweeter than ridin' the rails

Tom Waits  

Well you say that it's gospel, But I know that it's only church.

You I

Tom Waits  

The beginning of it starts at the end

Tom Waits  

The Music was like Electric Sugar

Like Music

Tom Waits  

My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.

Like

Tom Waits  

It's the same with men as with horses and dogs, nothing wants to die.

Tom Waits  

There's no prayer like desire.

Like

Tom Waits  

I admit that I ain't no angel, I admit that I ain't no saint-- I'm selfish and I'm cruel and I'm blind. If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave too. When they leave they're so hard to find...

I

Tom Waits  

Got a head full of lightning, a hat full of rain.

Tom Waits  

When your down on your luck and you've lost all your dreams theres nothing like a campfire and a can of beans

Like

Tom Waits  

And when they pulled her from the wreck, you know, she still had on her shades

You

Tom Waits  

I just don't like the word 'fun'--it's like Volkswagen, or bell-bottoms, or patchouli-oil or bean-sprouts...it rubs me up the wrong way.

Me Like I

Tom Waits  

I worry about a lot of things, but I don’t worry about achievements. I worry primarily about whether there are nightclubs in Heaven.

I

Tom Waits  

It's cold out there, colder than a ticket taker's smile at the Ivar Theatre on a Saturday night.

Tom Waits  

Bringing up children was]like living with a bunch of drunks...you really have to be on your toes all the time.

Time

Tom Waits  

I danced along a colored wind/ Dangled from a rope of sand

I

Tom Waits  

Not the kind of wheel you fall asleep at.

You

Tom Waits  

I never told the truth so i can never tell a lie...

Never I

Tom Waits  

Using parking meters as walking sticks.

Tom Waits  

I made a wish on a sliver of moonlight A sly grin and a bowl full of stars

I

Tom Waits  

There ain't no devil there's just god when he's drunk

God

Tom Waits  

Arithmetic arithmetock Turn the hands back on the clock How does the ocean rock the boat? How did the razor find my throat? The only strings that hold me here Are tangled up around the pier.

Me

Tom Waits  

Most of the things you absorb you will ultimately secrete.

You Will

Tom Waits  

You must have brought the bad weather with you The sky's the color of lead All you've left me is a feather On an unmade bed

You Me

Tom Waits  

I'm not fighting for justice. I am not fighting for freedom. I am fighting for my life and another day in the world here.

Life I

Tom Waits  

God's away, God's away, God's away on business. Business!

Tom Waits  

She’s got the whole dark forest living inside of her.

Tom Waits  

And I remember quiet evenings trembling close to you...

I

Tom Waits  

I'm so goddamn horny, the crack of dawn better be careful around me!

Tom Waits  

Don't you know there ain't no devil; there's just God when he's drunk.

You God

Tom Waits  

Hell is boiling over. And heaven is full. We're chained to the world. And we all gotta pull. And we're all gonna be ...just dirt in the ground".

Tom Waits  

There is no such thing as nonfiction.

Tom Waits  

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

You Like

Tom Waits  

Picture in a frame

Tom Waits  

... there ain't no devil, it's just God when he's drunk.

God

Tom Waits  

You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops.

You

Tom Waits  

Misery's the river of the world. Everybody row!

Tom Waits  

When you are writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room.

You Need

Tom Waits  

An all time favorite: "The large print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Time

Tom Waits  

There ain't no devil, just God when he's drunk.

God

Tom Waits