Tom Petty Quotes & Sayings

You will never be told when the next bit of education is coming or where it's coming from or who the teacher will be. That information will only reveal itself after the fact. All that you can do is leave a little room there for the next lesson to come through. Someone will be carrying it. You just leave the door open a crack. — Tom Petty

Bring me a girl, they're always the best. You put 'em on stage, and you have 'em undress. — Tom Petty

God, it's so painful when something that's so close is still so far out of reach. — Tom Petty

Even the losers get lucky sometimes! — Tom Petty

I don't think it's a good attitude in your life to feel that you have to be rich to have self-esteem. — Tom Petty

If you look around at America, that's one of its biggest problems is you have corporations that can never be pleased at a profit. — Tom Petty

I would never put my songs in a commercial. — Tom Petty

The great thing about the Wilburys was that none of us had to take the heat by ourselves. I was just a member of the band. Nobody felt like he was above anybody else. We had such a good time. — Tom Petty

He [George Harrison] told me he really, really admired John [Lennon]. He probably wanted John's acceptance pretty bad, you know? — Tom Petty

Sometimes, giving up your privacy is a little like going to the dentist and we have let him have access that no one's ever had. — Tom Petty

I didn't worry about my career ending, but there were days where I felt pretty beat up by it all and just pretty tired, because they didn't make it easy for me. And coming right off the last lawsuit, it was the last thing I wanted to get involved in. When it was over, we didn't really celebrate, we were just exhausted. I lost all interest in the record business and never wanted to do anything except hand in a record again. — Tom Petty

Good loving is hard to find, you got lucky babe, when I found you. — Tom Petty

I should have known right then it was too good to last, God, it's such a drag when you're livin' in the past — Tom Petty

Well, I started out down a dirty road Started out all alone And the sun went down as I crossed the hill And the town lit up, the world got still I'm learning to fly but I ain't got wings Coming down is the hardest thing Well, the good ol' days may not return And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn I'm learning to fly but I ain't got wings Coming down is the hardest thing Well, some say life will beat you down Break your heart, steal your crown So I've started out for God knows where I guess I'll know when I get there I'm learning to fly around the clouds But what goes up must come down — Tom Petty

Sometimes life, will get you down, break your heart, steal your crown. — Tom Petty

Let's get to the point Let's roll another joint — Tom Petty

It's always been great to be onstage. It's really effortless up there. It's not a lot of work. — Tom Petty

I don't know, my music has always just come from where the wind blew me. Like where I'm at during a particular moment in time. — Tom Petty

I'm tired of screwing up. I'm tired of being down. I'm tired of myself. I'm tired of bein' down. — Tom Petty

A rebel without a clue. — Tom Petty

I like a good beer. Of course, I'll drink a bad one too. Let no person thirst for lack of real ale! Thank god for long-necked bottles, the angel's remedy. — Tom Petty

You belong somewhere you feel free. — Tom Petty

There goes your freedom of choice, there goes the last human voice. — Tom Petty

I'll stand my ground and I won't back down... — Tom Petty

I love history, doesn't matter what era, I'm fascinated. — Tom Petty

You need eagles wings to get over things that make no sense in this world. — Tom Petty

The waiting is the hardest part. — Tom Petty

Every verse a diamond, every chorus gold, the sound was my salvation. It was only everything, before money became king. — Tom Petty

Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I'm concerned, that's success. — Tom Petty

I've never had any idea that what I like would resonate with the audience, and I'm pleasantly surprised when it does. — Tom Petty

You belong among the wildflowers You belong in a boat out at sea You belong with your love on your arm You belong somewhere you feel free — Tom Petty

There used to be this real sense of community integrity in rock. It has really eroded. Everyone seems to be on their own now. — Tom Petty

If 20,000 people start to sing, you tend to go along with it. — Tom Petty

I think it's important to always offer something new. — Tom Petty

Yeah and it's over before you know it
It all goes by so fast
Yeah the bad nights take forever
And the good nights don't ever seem to last — Tom Petty

I'm more interested in what I'm going to leave behind me than in making a big hit record. I've refined what I do for a long time. If getting better at it means it goes over the heads of those who only wanted to party, then so be it. — Tom Petty

Redemption comes to those who wait, forgiveness is the key. — Tom Petty

I like making money like anybody else, and I'm paid well, but I think there is a point at which you can out-price your audience or your base. — Tom Petty

Whatever you're looking for, don't come around here no more. — Tom Petty

Eddie waited 'til he finished high school, he went to Hollywood, got a tattoo. — Tom Petty

I'm old enough to have lived in a country where, if you were willing to work hard, you could have a fairly nice life. You could support your family, and even get a shot at owning your own home. But you never thought you'd get a swimming pool. Now culture has hypnotised people into thinking they're really nothing if they're not wealthy and a Kardashian. — Tom Petty

We don't really make bad records, though some people might like some more than others. And we have never really done a bad show. So I think in a way maybe we've been taken for granted. — Tom Petty

I think television's become a downright dangerous thing. It has no moral barometer whatsoever. If you want to talk about something that is all about money, just watch the television. — Tom Petty

When I met Elvis, we didn't really have a conversation. I was introduced by my uncle, and he sort of grunted my way. What stays with me is the whole scene. I had never seen a real mob scene before. I was really young and impressionable. Elvis really did look - he looked sort of not real, as if he were glowing. — Tom Petty

Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks. Some doors are opened, some roads are blocked. Sundowns are golden, then fade away. And if I never do nothing, I'll get you back someday. — Tom Petty

Buy me a drink, sing me a song; take me as I come, cause I can't stay long. — Tom Petty

At twilight time the smog makes a rainbow. — Tom Petty

I'm not trying to be cool. I have a problem with lights. I have one eye that's become super-sensitive to lighting, so I do wear sunglasses quite a bit. — Tom Petty

People come, people go
Some grow young, some grow cold
I woke up in between
A memory and a dream
So let's get to the point, let's roll another joint
Let's head on down the road
There's somewhere I gotta go
And you don't know how it feels
You don't know how it feels to be me — Tom Petty

I can't crawl any further. You never crawled for me. — Tom Petty

The first time I tried to write was when I was 14, after I got an electric guitar. I put a song together, and it wasn't that bad! The writing came natural to me. — Tom Petty

If you're not getting older, you're dead. — Tom Petty

I had to learn a new way of playing. I had to practice a lot, and just find ways around the limitations. So it was a bad idea to break my hand.
You said you were doing a lot of cocaine. Did that affect your songwriting?
No. I think it affected my breaking my hand. — Tom Petty

Music is probably the only real magic I have encountered in my life. There's not some trick involved with it. It's pure and it's real. It moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things. — Tom Petty

I got my own way of praying. — Tom Petty

He don't wanna change, what don't need to change. — Tom Petty

You get in there, you get the job done and you get the hell out. — Tom Petty

You were the one who made things different, you were the one who took me in. You were the one thing I could count on, above all, you were my friend. — Tom Petty

I'm not exactly a guy who makes new friends easily. — Tom Petty

I developed a problem with authority. Any time that authority was what I interpreted as being unjust, I stood up to it, and that became my personality. — Tom Petty

So I started out for God knows where.
I guess I'll know when I get there. — Tom Petty

I want to be successful. Not just money. Just making a successful record and a successful show. I could feel successful without selling a million records. — Tom Petty

I'm certainly not a Robin Hood, I'm not that way. I don't want to come through, burn everybody for $200 a ticket and then they can't afford to come see me again. Plus, I just don't think it's right. I don't think we need that much money. I just do what seems like the logical thing to do. — Tom Petty

You and I will meet again, When we're least expecting it, One day in some far off place, I will recognize your face, I won't say goodbye my friend, For you and I will meet again. — Tom Petty

I'm so tired of being tired. Sure as night will follow day most things I worry about will never happen anyway. — Tom Petty

I'm not interested in the TV much. I quit watching the news a couple years ago and my outlook on life has gotten a whole lot better. — Tom Petty

If you listen long enough you can hear my skin grow tough love is painful to the touch must be made of stronger stuff. — Tom Petty

I've always had a great love for the blues. — Tom Petty

I'm barely prolific and incredibly lazy. — Tom Petty

You spend your life dreaming, running 'round in a trance, You hang out forever and still miss the dance, And if you get lucky, you might find someone, To help you get over the pain that will come. — Tom Petty

We could move catalog, if he'd only die quicker. — Tom Petty

It just seems to useless to have to work so hard, and nothing ever really seem to come from it. — Tom Petty

I remember things being more clearer, at one time things were more real. — Tom Petty

You believe what you want to believe — Tom Petty

Songwriting ability is a gift. After a while, you come to realize, "I've really been blessed. I can write these things and it makes me happy, and it makes millions of people happy." It's an obligation, it's bigger than you. It's the only true magic I know. It's not pulling a rabbit out of a hat; it's real. It's your soul floating out to theirs. — Tom Petty

I think to be successful you have to work really hard but you also have to have a little bit of luck. — Tom Petty

If you stretch your imagination, I'll tell you all a tale, about a time when everything wasn't up for sale. — Tom Petty

Oh yeah, alright, take it easy baby, make it last all night. She was an American Girl. — Tom Petty

When I decided to be a musician I reckoned that that was going to be the way of less profit, less money. I was sort of giving up the idea of making a lot of money. It was what I loved to do. I would have done it anyway. If I'd had to work at Taco Bell I'd have still been out at night trying to play music. — Tom Petty

Rock n' roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the 'roll' and called it 'rock,' which became a sort of umbrella term for anything with a guitar in it. Like hair bands. How could we possibly believe that? It's just gotten downright silly, to the point where now it's sort of become like professional wrestling. — Tom Petty

I don't understand the ones that have no sense of hope and invest in hate. That's not gonna work out, you know? It's a waste of your time! — Tom Petty

The music has to be affordable. It's the common man that keeps it going, and if you price it out of his realm, it becomes a thing of the elite. — Tom Petty

I think for it to be hip to be idealistic is weird, you know? I mean, even all the best rebels to me, had some sense of hope in them. — Tom Petty

Making a record? You've got to have the song, then you create a record. I think it's the same with a live performance. If the material is strong, you're already 90% there. I always tell young people it's all about the music, the songs. Work on the songs, work on the songs, work on the songs. — Tom Petty

When I was a kid, we didn't have any blues stations. I never heard Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters or any of those people until the Stones had come along, and I took it upon myself to find out who these people were that they were covering. — Tom Petty

Go after what you really love and find a way to make that work for you, and then you'll be a happy person. — Tom Petty

She grew up hard and she grew up fast, in the age of television. — Tom Petty

I'm always having fun. Playing is fun. Music is fun. — Tom Petty

I love the music. I'm never, ever tired of playing it. — Tom Petty

Free Falling
She's a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She's a good girl, crazy 'bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too
It's a long day livin' in Reseda
There's a freeway runnin' through the yard
I'm a bad boy, 'cause I don't even miss her
I'm a bad boy for breakin' her heart
And I'm free, I'm free fallin'
All the vampires walkin' through the valley
Move west down Ventura Blvd
All the bad boys are standing in the shadows
All the good girls are home with broken hearts
And I'm free, I'm free fallin'
I wanna glide down over Mulholland
I wanna write her name in the sky
I wanna free fall out into nothin'
Gonna leave this world for a while
And I'm free, I'm free fallin — Tom Petty

It's very easy to be cynical about the hall of fame. But on the other hand, it's really a beautiful thing for someone like me. I dedicated my entire life to this music. — Tom Petty

George Harrison was the kind of guy who wasn't going to leave until he hugged you for five minutes and told you how much he loved you. — Tom Petty

My sister got lucky, married a yuppie, and took him for all he was worth. Now she's a swinger dating a singer, I can't decide which is worse. — Tom Petty

I've learned one thing, and that's to quit worrying about stupid things. You have four years to be irresponsible here, relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember the time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So stay out late. Go out with your friends on a Tuesday when you have a paper due on Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink 'til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does ... — Tom Petty

I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings. Coming down is the hardest thing. — Tom Petty

Just wonderin', waitin', worryin' about some silly little things, that just don't add up to nothin'. — Tom Petty

At the end of the day, you're just phonograph records. — Tom Petty

What I've learned about marriage: You need to have each other's back; you have to be a kind of team going through life. — Tom Petty

The music business looks like, you know, innocent schoolboys compared to the TV business. They care about nothing but profit. — Tom Petty

My mama was a rocker way back in fifty-three, buys them old records that they sell on TV. — Tom Petty