95 Neil Peart Quotes To Make You Get Up And Go

Neil Peart was a Canadian drummer, lyricist, and author who is best known for being the band member of Rush.

As the drummer and primary lyricist of this rock band, Neil Peart created famous songs like 'Tom Sawyer', 'Limelight', 'The Garden', 'Freewill', 'Resist', and 'Bastille Day'. The reason why Rush's songs are still so popular among the audience is not just because of their incredible music but also their soulful lyrics.

Neil Peart built an emotional connection with his audience by emoting his thoughts on life, philosophy, and self-respect through his music. In addition to writing songs, Neil Peart wrote many memoirs about his musical journey and adventures in adult life.

His most well-known works include 'Ghost Rider: Travelling On The Healing Road Reviews & Ratings', 'The Masked Rider: Cycling In West Africa', and 'Far And Wide: Bring That Horizon to Me!'.

Though the legendary drummer died in 2020 at the age of 67, his words have made him immortal. Continue reading for some of the most inspiring quotes from Neil Peart.

Famous Neil Peart Quotes

Check out some iconic statements made by the legendary drummer Neil Peart during his lifetime below.

“Only a mediocre man is always at his best."

— 'Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle'.

"How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit."

— 'Turn The Page', 'Hold Your Fire', 1987.

"A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission."

— 'Mission', 'Hold Your Fire', 1987.

"Blame is better to give than receive."

— 'Freewill', 'Permanent Waves', 1980.

"Life is just a candle, and a dream must give it flame…"

— 'The Fountain Of Lamneth', Caress of Steel, 1975.

"I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose Freewill."

— 'Freewill', 'Permanent Waves', 1980.

"The example that we're trying to create, we live by."

— March 4, 1978, New Music Express, Barry Miles.

"While I believe in all that freedom, I also believe that no one should suffer needlessly."

— 'Rush: Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Excellence', Robert Freedman.

"Innocence gave me confidence to go up against reality."

— 'Circumstances', 'Hemispheres', 1978.

"Those who know what's best for us must rise and save us from ourselves."

— 'Witch Hunt', 'Moving Pictures', 1981.

"Different hearts beat on different strings."

— 'Different Strings', 'Permanent Waves', 1980.

"When I'm riding my motorcycle, I'm glad to be alive. When I stop riding my motorcycle, I'm glad to be alive."

— 'Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour By Motorcycle'.

"I remain the optimist: you just do your best and hope for the best. But it's an evolving state of mind."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"Even as a kid, I never wanted to be famous; I wanted to be good."

— February 1, 2015, www.thestar.com, Vinay Menon.

"A quality of justice/ A quantity of light/ A particle of mercy/ Makes the color of right."

— 'The Color Of Right', 'Test Dor Echo', 1996.

"Adventures suck when you're having them."

— 'Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle'.

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

— 'Freewill', 'Permanent Waves', 1980.

"I'm learning all the time. I'm evolving all the time as a human being. I'm getting better, I hope, in all of the important ways."

— October 9, 2014, www.philsimon.com, Phil Simon.

"The more we think we know about, the greater the unknown."

— 'Mystic Rhythms', 'Power Windows', 1985.

"Sometimes our big splashes are just ripples in the pool."

— 'Emotion Detector', 'Power Windows', 1985.

'We each pay a fabulous price for our visions of paradise."

— 'Mission', 'Hold Your Fire', 1987.

Neil Peart Quotes About Life

Read some inspiring Neil Peart quotes on life that will motivate you to dream big and have a greater sense of being.

"Spiritual yearnings are natural to many people, and may give them solace or hope, but extremists of any stripe are not content with faith as armor; they must forge it into a sword."

— 'Roadshow: Landscape with Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle'.

"Whatever is left behind in the passing of a rare talent, so much is always lost."

— 'Traveling Music: The Soundtrack To My Life And Times'.

"Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand. Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand."

— 'Witch Hunt', Moving Pictures (1981).

"Wave after wave Will flow with the tide And bury the world as it does Tide after tide Will flow and recede Leaving life to go on As it was…"

— 'Natural Science', 'Permanent Waves' (1980).

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

— 'Something For Nothing', '2112', 1976.

"The secret to life is, you get up in the morning, and you go to work."

— 'Traveling Music: The Soundtrack To My Life and Times'.

"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."

— 'Resist', 'Test For Echo' 1996.

"No one gets to their heaven without a fight..."

— 'Armor & Sword', 'Snakes & Arrows' 2007.

"Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies, But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be."

— 'Losing It', 'R40 Live', 2015.

"Growing up it all seems so one-sided, Opinions all provided, The future pre-decided, Detached and subdivided, In the mass production zone, Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone."

— 'Subdivisions', 'Signals', 1982.

"Any escape might help to smooth/ The unattractive truth/ But the suburbs have no charms to soothe/ The restless dreams of youth."

— 'Subdivisions', 'Signals', 1982.

"Sometimes you're up against everybody in the whole world - even your friends and family are saying, "You need a single." You feel sometimes incredibly alone."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"With people, too, you constantly think, ‘If I’m nice to people and treat them well, they’ll appreciate it and behave better.’ They won’t, but it’s still not a bad way to live."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"Standing in front of a microphone where every word or every slip that you make, especially in these times, is with you forever - you want to say the right thing."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"You just become adaptable and try to lead a good life in ways that make sense, regardless. Because I know at the end of it, if I'm going to meet Jesus or Allah or Buddha, I'm going to be all right."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"I'm less comfortable in a gregarious social situation, and you can be introverted and still share everything. It just means that you're guarded."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"If we burn our wings/ Flying too close to the sun/ If the moment of glory/ Is over before it's begun/ If the dream is won/ Though everything is lost/ We will pay the price/ But we will not count the cost."

— 'Bravado', 'Roll The Bones', 1991.

"You can do a lot in a lifetime/ If you don't burn out too fast/ You can make the most of the distance/ First, you need endurance/ First, you've got to last."

— 'Marathon', 'Power Windows', 1985.

"Lessons taught but never learned, all around us anger burns. Guide the future by the past. Long ago the mould was cast."

— 'Bastille Day', 'Caress Of Steel', 1975.

"I have come to believe that anger and grudges are burning embers in the heart."

— 'Wish Them Well', 'Clockwork Angels', 2012.

"Look in, look the storm in the eye. Look out, to the sea and the sky. Look around, at the sight and sound. Look in, look out, look around."

— 'Force Ten', 'Hold Your Fire', 1987.

"Live for yourself... there's no one else more worth living for..."

— 'Anthem', 'Cleveland Agora - WMMS 1974', 2011.

"Waiting for the rainbow's end to cast its gold your way... You don't get something for nothing. You can't have freedom for free."

— 'Something For Nothing', '2112', 1976.

"Excitement is found along the road, not at the end."

— 'Far And Away: A Prize Every Time'.

"You can twist perception, reality won't budge."

— 'Show Don't Tell', 'Presto', 1989.

"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."

— 'Everyday Glory', 'Counterparts', 1993.

"The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect/ So hard to earn so easily burned."

— 'The Garden', 'Clockwork Angels', 2012.

"We're only immortal for a limited time."

— 'Dreamline', 'Roll The Bones', 1991.

"From the point of ignition/ To the final drive/ The point of the journey is not to arrive."

— 'Prime Mover', 'Hold Your Fire', 1987.

"No changes are permanent, but change is."

— 'Tom Sawyer', 1976.

"Courageous convictions will drag the dream into existence."

— 'Limelight', 'Moving Pictures', 1981.

"Half the world hates/ What half the world does every day/ Half the world waits/ While half gets on with it anyway."

— 'Half The World', 'Test For Echo', 1996.

"What is a master but a master student? And if that's true, then there's a responsibility on you to keep getting better and to explore avenues of your profession."

— June 13, 2012, rollingstoneindia.com, Andy Greene.

"You have to know when you're at the top of your particular mountain, I guess. Maybe not the summit, but as high as you can go."

—'Far and Wide: Bring That Horizon to Me!'

"Half the world cries/ Half the world laughs/ Half the world tries/ To be the other half."

— 'Half The World', 'Test For Echo', 1996.

"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."

—'The Masked Rider: Cycling In West Africa.'

Neil Peart Quotes About Music

Learn about Neil Peart's impressive music journey and how he honed his skills in the art form in his own words below.

"The keystone of any artistic construction is contained in that simple question, what is the intention?”

— 'Traveling Music: The Soundtrack To My Life And Times'.

"Today is different, and tomorrow the same. It's hard to take the world the way that it came. Too many rapids keep us sweeping along. Too many captains keep on steering us wrong. It's hard to take the heat. It's hard to lay blame. To fight the fire, while we're feeding the flames."

— 'Second Nature', 'Hold Your Fire', 1987.

"Hard rock is our kind of music, the music we grew up on. It's what comes naturally to us."

— March 4, 1978, New Music Express, Barry Miles.

"It seems to me that the only way you can have a truly creative aggregate of people is if they're all contributing in different ways."

— March 4, 1978, New Music Express, Barry Miles.

"As crises came up later on - "Oh, we have to compromise, and the record company wants to do this," I'd be like, "No, I don't have to."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"People don't realize the limitations of 200 words, and the way they get chiseled down into a song that has to be sung."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"I'd be very honored to be the ambassador to drum solos."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"I know where I'm going, but I don't always know how I'm going to get there."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"To me, drum soloing is like doing a marathon and solving equations at the same time."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"Performing live in front of an audience is such a matter of will - all of those things you can do just fine in your basement, suddenly you have to do them in front of hundreds or thousands of people, and it becomes a different matter entirely."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"You don't just play whatever comes into your head; you have to be very deliberate about what you do."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"You have to practice…and trust yourself."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"For me, drum elements are like hieroglyphics - I think of a certain physical figure, and a little three-dimensional glyph will appear in my mind as I'm playing."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"I would play each drum in an identical way to find the one that pleased me musically. Over the years, whenever I did switch, it was always based on that test."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, Joe Bosso.

"Live shows were always religion for us. We never played a show - whether it was in front of 15 people or 15,000 - where it wasn't everything we had that night."

— February 1, 2015, www.thestar.com, Vinay Menon.

"What I've learned over the years is that the craft of songwriting is trying to take the personal and make it universal - or in the case of telling a story, taking the universal and making it personal."

— June 13, 2012, rollingstoneindia.com, Andy Greene.

"Let your heart be the anchor and the beat of your song."

— 'Something For Nothing', '2112', 1976.

"I think, in music, you're always hoping that you'll have a like-minded audience and that the music you like making will appeal to them, too."

— October 9, 2014, www.philsimon.com, Phil Simon.

"It's not true and will never be true that someone who knows nothing can sit in a basement and make great music. It can never happen with any kind of great art."

— October 9, 2014, www.philsimon.com, Phil Simon.

"The fact that you can have a vision in your brain and try to describe it and transmit it doesn't mean that it's received. That's the gift of technique and perhaps it's easier explained in prose - in words - if you can get just the right words."

— October 9, 2014, www.philsimon.com, Phil Simon.

"Writing and music have to be learned over time and practiced. The great thing about live performance, at least in music (and that prose writers miss out on), is that you have an audience to judge how well you're doing."

— October 9, 2014, www.philsimon.com, Phil Simon.

"The real test of a musician is live performance. It's one thing to spend a long time learning how to play well in the studio, but to do it in front of people is what keeps me coming back to touring."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, David West.

"There is nothing I would rather have than the respect of other musicians for what I do, but respect is something you have to earn continually."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, David West.

"The hunger for improvement and exploration and all that really does derive from the acclaim. I know people give me that respect so I feel I have to earn it."

— January 11, 2020, www.musicradar.com, David West.

"Our songs were not written to be listened to in headphones or on the radio. They were written to be played."

— October 9, 2014, www.philsimon.com, Phil Simon.

"When I was young, my ambitions were very modest. I thought, 'If only I could play at the battle of the bands at the Y, that would be the culmination of existence!' And then the roller rink, and you work your way up branch by branch."

— August 13, 1978, www.macleans.ca, Mike Doherty.

"If you've got a problem, take it out on a drum."

— March 17, 2014, www.latimes.com, James S. Fell.

Ghost Rider Quotes By Neil Peart

Besides being a drummer and lyricist, Neil Peart was a noted author. Treat yourself to some inspiring quotes from his best-seller book 'Ghost Rider: Travelling On The Healing Road Reviews & Ratings'.

"The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

"Dedicated to the future, with honor to the past."

"There would be no peace for me, no life for me, until I learned to forgive life for what it had done to me, forgive others for still being alive, and eventually, forgive myself for being alive."

"Just follow your front wheel."

"Perils of solitude #1: People talk to you. I’d rather listen."

"Your soul is stained with the blood of the innocent, feel their pain."

"Thoreau, at death, our friends and relatives either draw nearer to us, and are found out, or depart farther from us, and are forgotten."

"I saw that it was plain wrong to evaluate people according to race, for it was clear that culture was the real divider among peoples."

"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion; you must set yourself on fire."

"The only reason I am alive is because I could not die."

"...I decided I didn't want to give offense to any believers by trumpeting my "non-belief", even though they might not show me the same courtesy."