Who I Am Quotes

“Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
Its only teenage wasteland.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“Enjoy life. And be careful what you pray for - remember, you will get it all.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“Like so many addicts, I'd thought that if I could only sort out my life, I could then sort out my drinking. It was a revelation to see that it would be simpler the other way around”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“The music we play has to be tomorrow's, the things we say have to be today, and the reason for bothering is yesterday.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“I wrote to my son. ‘Be a pessimist,’ I advised Joseph on his first birthday on 21 November. ‘It is the safest, most pragmatic way to be. Being an optimist may enrich the lives of others (with good cheer and smiling), but it leads you unaware to danger.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir

“Since so much of this music bubbled up urgently from my subconsious mind, I'm left to interpret it much like anyone else.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“I was surprised at how much I enjoyed meeting fans face to face. They're less scary when they aren't going nuts at a Who show. But then, so am I.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“All good art cannot help but confront denial on its way to truth.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“In Tacoma, Washington, I speared myself on my guitar’s whammy bar – it went right through my hand. I went into shock,”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir

“For the first time, a whole generation had the economic & educational opportunity to turn their backs on the dead end factory jobs of their parents, who, traumatized by two world wars, had responded by creating a safety blanket of conformity.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“We didn't need light & shade, irony or humor. An iconic Daltrey bellow could convey an extrodinary range of human emotion; withering sadness, self pity, loneliness, abandonment, spiritual desperation, the loss of childhood, as well as the more obvious rage & frustration, joy & triumph.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“When you're part of a gang, you soon find the parts of you that don't fit. These apparent defects can become assets; they're the things about you that make you interesting & useful.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“I heard in my own voice the tulmult of a young man playig a role, uneasily, repackaging black R&B music from America, relying on gimmicky outfits, and pretending to be wild & free when in reality he needed to be looked after by his mother.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“Roger Daltrey had been expelled for smoking, but was still impudently showing up on campus to visit his various cronies. I'd first met him after he won a playground fight with a Chinese boy. I thought his tactics were dirty and when I shouted as much, he came over & forced me to retract.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“Punk rock was the tsunami that threatened to drown us all in 1977.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“I also had the ability to create alpha-state music in my head, go into a creative trance, have musical visions, and”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir

“I heard that Harry Nilsson had died. The secret to being a successful hellraiser, it seemed, was to stop raising hell before hell razed you.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir

“Judging by the faces of those around me, just the fact of Roger speaking to me meant that my life could very well change.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“Wiggy & I were drug buddies. There is no tighter compact for friendship. There is no greater potential for deceit.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“I slept badly that night, my vivid dreams populated by ghosts. As much as it revived ailing spirits in day light, the fizzy energy of NY seemed to feed on human frailty at night.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“In 1945 music had a serious purpose; to defy post war depression & revitalize the romantic & hopeful aspirations of an exhausted ppl.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“I was regarded by my parents as having little musical talent other than a thin, nasal soprano voice. I was forbidden to touch my father's clarinets or saxophones, just my harmonica.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

“thought The Clash were spectacular. They were charming to me when we met, and Joe Strummer clearly had a heart of gold. His work for political causes, especially anti-racist ones, was inspiring.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: a Memoir

“It’s good to know that not every old relationship or friendship needs to be subject to either ‘closure’ or forensic analysis.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir

“I consoled myself by wiring up the keyboard studio in my house, the therapy I enjoyed most.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir

“if you don’t like my trumpet go try blowing one of your own.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir

“The Artist’s Way”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am: a Memoir