Frank Zappa Quotes

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best.

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say that there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.

Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.

The computer can’t tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what’s missing is the eyebrows.

Most people wouldn’t know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.

The most important thing in art is the frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively— because, without this humble appliance, you can’t know where the art stops and the real world begins.

There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something, we’d all love one another.

A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.

Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.

Music is the only religion that delivers the goods.

There is no hell. There is only France.

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.

A wise man said, ‘Never argue with a fool.’ I say, ‘Never argue with someone who believes their own lies.’

Perfect safety is not an attainable goal.

If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.

One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people’s minds.

The first thing you have to do is admit that you can’t do everything by yourself.

There’s a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.

The universe is a mental process.

Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.

Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.

The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.

Warning: dates on a calendar are closer than they appear.

Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.

The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced.

So many books, so little time.

It isn’t necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia.

Music is the only religion that doesn’t tell you there’s something wrong with you for being human.

Genuine music melts the hearts of men but does not swindle or cheat them. Music is the tapestry of emotion.

The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else’s life.

A drug is neither moral nor immoral — it’s a chemical compound.

I never set out to be weird, it was always other people who called me weird.

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion.

You can’t always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

I start with a cliche and then twist it.

There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.

My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.

I’m in this business to make money, not friends.

Art is the science of manipulating symbols, the same way that chemistry is the science of manipulating chemicals or physics is the science of manipulating particles.

Everything in the universe is linked, including unrelated things.

Music is always a commentary on society.

To me, absurdity is the only reality.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

Without music, life would be a mistake.

The most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.

There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something, we’d all love one another.

When a person suffers from delusion, it is called insanity. When a society suffers from delusion, it is called religion.

Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.