Don Henley Quotes & Sayings

There are no facts, there is no truth, just data to be manipulated. — Don Henley

This year, notoriety got confused with fame, and the devil is down hearted because there is nothing left for him to claim. — Don Henley

For every moment of joy Every hour of fear For every winding road that brought me here For every breath, for every day of living This is my Thanksgiving — Don Henley

In the old days, words like sin and Satan had a moral certitude. Today, they're replaced with self-help jargon, words like dysfunction and antisocial behavior, discouraging any responsibility for one's actions.. — Don Henley

The wisdom that living brings, since I got a telegram from the God of simple things. — Don Henley

O' beautiful for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie
But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defence
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence — Don Henley

My creative life is a constant struggle to achieve a balance between letting things flow in and letting things flow out. — Don Henley

I don't care what anybody says about Ringo. I cut my rock-n-roll teeth listening to him. — Don Henley

I said, baby, do you have no shame? She just looked at me, uncomprehendingly, like cows at a passing train. — Don Henley

I'm not on any crusade. — Don Henley

Playing the drums hurts my back. — Don Henley

I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter
but my will gets weak
and my thoughts seem to scatter
but I think it's about forgiveness ...
forgiveness,
even if you don't love me anymore. — Don Henley

Arm chair warriors often fail. — Don Henley

Johnny can get down and Johnny can throw up, but Johnny can't read. — Don Henley

Selling eight million copies of your first album will mess you up. — Don Henley

A man with a briefcase can steal millions more than any man with a gun. — Don Henley

Mick Jagger can't even make a successful solo album, and the Stones are the biggest rock group that ever was. — Don Henley

Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge. — Don Henley

Insect politics, indifferent universe. Bang your head against the wall, but apathy is worse. — Don Henley

Who knows how long this will last, now we've come so far so fast. — Don Henley

My love for you will still be strong after the boys of summer have gone. — Don Henley

I think my first instrument was a ukulele that they gave me. I used to know how to play that pretty well. — Don Henley

Lennon's was one of the first voices I emulated when I began to sing. When we held tryouts in my pal's dad's living room for the singer in our band, I sang a Beatles song that Lennon sang. There is something about the timbre of his voice, something that it conveys, that still gets to me. The quality and the poetry of his lyrics. The wry sense of humor. And the boyishness, in the beginning. There are a great many things that touch me about him ... Lennon was, to put it in his own words, a 'working-class hero.' — Don Henley

It took me 42 years to write this song, and 5 minutes to sing it.
[On The Heart of the Matter, during the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over tour.] — Don Henley

The trouble with you and me my friend, is the trouble with this nation, too many blessings, too little Appreciation. — Don Henley

It's an inside job to learn about forgiving, it's an inside job to hang on to the joy of living. — Don Henley

I don't mind doing two or three Eagles songs and playing the drums. I'm not one of those artists who's going to sit here and deny the past. — Don Henley

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
It's interesting when people die -
Give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry
You don't really need to find out what's going on
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry — Don Henley

Anyone who knows anything should know you cannot take a master track of a recording and write another song over the top of it. You just can't do that. You can call it a tribute or whatever you want to call it, but it's against the law. That's a problem with some of the younger generation, they don't understand the concept of intellectual property and copyright. — Don Henley

Sharper than a serpents tongue, tighter than a bongo drum, quicker than a one night stand, slicker than a mambo band. — Don Henley

It was pretty frightening because as we all know, when large, famous groups breakup, a lot of the members don't survive in solo careers. — Don Henley

What are these voices outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment, and beg for something more?
I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again — Don Henley

How can love survive in such a graceless age? The trust and self assurance that lead to happiness, they're the very things we kill. — Don Henley

No shame, no solution, no remorse, no retribution, just people selling t-shirts. — Don Henley

If dirt were dollars, I wouldn't have to worry anymore. — Don Henley

I try to write conversationally; I try to write like people speak and put the emphasis on the right syllable. — Don Henley

We live a protracted adolescence. At some point you must leave the party. — Don Henley

The government bugged the men's room in the local disco lounge. — Don Henley

No one in this country need go hungry, and alleviating the problem is primarily a matter of readjusting our priorities. In both the government and the private sector, self-interest has displaced the ideal of community that made this country great. The old world view of "us, we, our" has been replaced by "I, me, mine." The reasons for this are manifold and complex, but at the end of the day, we need to remember that, if one of us is suffering needlessly, all of us are diminished. — Don Henley

The bubble headed bleach blonde comes on at five, she can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye. It's interesting when people die, gives us dirty laundry. — Don Henley

So much time weeping and wailing and shaking our fists, creating enemies that really don't exist. — Don Henley

We're being treated to the wisdom of some puffed up, little fart. Doing exactly what I used to do, pretensions to anarchy and art. — Don Henley

There are people in your life who've come and gone, they let you down and hurt your pride. Better put it all behind you, life goes on, you keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside. — Don Henley

I'm fortunate that I've been in this business long enough that I've earned the right to be left alone by my record company. — Don Henley

I was flying back from Lubbock and I saw Jesus on the plane, or maybe it was Elvis. You know, they kind of look the same. — Don Henley

I don't want to discount talent and ability, but I still maintain that a lot of it is just sheer desire. — Don Henley

I'm certainly not thrilled with everything the Eagles did, but there are some things I'm quite proud of. — Don Henley

Armchair warriors often fail - and we've been poisoned by these fairy tales — Don Henley

Fortune smiles on some, and lets the others go free. — Don Henley

Lawsuits should not be used to destroy a viable and independent distribution system. The solution lies in the marketplace and not the courtroom. — Don Henley

I could have played more complex stuff. I could have been a busier player. But that's not what I wanted to do. I played what I wanted to play. — Don Henley

I'm blessed with a pretty good voice. So just sitting back there banging on the tubs wasn't enough. — Don Henley

I'm not easy to live with and I know that it's true. However, you're no picnic either, babe, and that's one of the things I liked about you. — Don Henley

In forty-five minutes, it'll all be done. We'll all be good and crispy, but we'll still be number one. — Don Henley

Nobody on the road. Nobody on the beach. I feel it in the air, the summer's out of reach. — Don Henley

The Eagles ended on a rather abrupt note, although in retrospect I realize now that it had been ending for quite some time. — Don Henley

Between each album I try to gain a new insight that I didn't have before and perhaps write a song about something that I've written about before, but from a fresh viewpoint. — Don Henley

I'm always jotting things down on pieces of paper. I've got pieces of paper all over my house. — Don Henley

Let hope inspire you, but let not idealism blind you. Don't look back, you can never look back. — Don Henley

An angry man can only get so far until he reconciles the way he thinks. — Don Henley

I now derive physical and spiritual pleasure from gardening and there is tremendous satisfaction in knowing that I could survive almost anywhere if I had to. — Don Henley

Sometimes songwriters and singers forget that. They get a melody in their head and the notes will take precedence, so that they wind up forcing a word onto a melody. It doesn't ring true. — Don Henley

I remember a time when things were a lot more fun around here, when good was good and evil was evil, before things got fuzzy. — Don Henley

You're driving with your eyes closed. — Don Henley

To want what I have, to take what I'm given with grace. For this I pray ... — Don Henley

For you girl, there is not enough love in the world. — Don Henley

We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry. — Don Henley

Oh beautiful for spacious skies, but now those skies are threatening. They're beating plowshares into swords for this tired old man we elected king. — Don Henley

I have a certain pool of subject matter that I like to write about, things that interest me: politics, religion, ecology, and relationships between men and women. And that's usually what I focus on. — Don Henley

Sometimes to keep it together you've got to leave it alone. — Don Henley

There is not wrong, there is no right, and I will sleep very well tonight. — Don Henley

Remember how you made me crazy, remember how I made you scream. — Don Henley

I am an expert witness because I say I am. — Don Henley

Some records with drum machines on them sound phony and plastic. It all depends on how you use the tools. — Don Henley

The Eagles and the critics were not the best of friends. — Don Henley

We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds in the name of destiny and in the name of God. — Don Henley

I could stand out front and sing Eagles songs that I sing in my set, but I think people enjoy watching me sing and play the drums. It seems to fascinate people. I don't know why. — Don Henley

What the head makes cloudy
the heart makes clear — Don Henley

It was a pretty good year for predators. — Don Henley

Fame, at one time, was associated with accomplishment, but in this day and age fame and notoriety have become confused. — Don Henley

The land of opportunity spawned a whole new breed of men without souls. — Don Henley

I have a bad back partially from playing the drums and singing. I used to have to hold my body in such a position that my spine got out of alignment. — Don Henley