13 Quotes From Henry Rollins That Will Re-calibrate Your Perspective

From being the tattooed, muscular front man of Black Flag and then the Rollins Band to spoken word artist, prolific writer and all round non-mincer of words, Henry Rollins has become a bombastic and brutally honest critic of the human experience.

Here's 13 quotes from the man himself - be warned, he pulls no punches and brooks no half measures. Enjoy :)

1. “No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go”

We attach labels because it makes us feel better about the associated behaviour. It’s ok to melt into the couch, it’s down time, it’s ok to binge because it’s a cheat day, it’s ok to waste the morning it’s not a work day.

There is just time and what you do with it. Your labels mean nothing, justify nothing and excuse nothing. Make choices and live with it but don’t call it something it isn’t.

2. “In winter I plot and plan, in spring I move”

There is seasonality in all things. You won’t always do this job, or lead that way, or hold those opinions. You will learn and evolve and move and shed your skin.

Embrace that all things will change, make the most of the season you are in, when it’s time celebrate its passing and welcome the next.

3. “Keep your blood clean, your body lean and your mind sharp”

Don’t eat like a self-absorbed indulgent teenager.

Sweat and move every day.

Learn how to breath.

Think, read, debate, learn, argue, orate.

All these things can be free.

All are more quintessential that almost anything else.

4. “I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy, it is my call to greatness”

When you spend all your time desperately trying to avoid something that is truly inevitable you have built a system that guarantees failure.

Instead see pain and failure and regret as part of the human experience and fight not to avoid them but to greet them and leverage them as part of your journey.

5. “I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone”

People misinterpret the ‘cut yourself out of stone’ – that doesn’t mean you need to be hard and callous; it means you have to chip away at the process, that it takes time and careful movement. You are a work in progress.

6. “Knowledge without mileage equals bullshit”

If I see another self-proclaimed ‘thought-leader’ on the socials I’ll scream. “Any man that has to shout, ‘I am the King’ is no true King" (there you go a bonus quote form GOT).

Tell me why your opinion matters, show me your scars, tell me your stories.

Earn your stripes then I’ll value what you have to say.

7. “If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you”

If what you are doing in the hours that are truly yours, doesn’t make you feel this way, then do something else.

8. “My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud”

Everything is urgent and a disaster. News used to inform now it seems hell bent on dividing and terrifying us.

Strike out against the tide, be a beacon, others will follow.

And if they don't - that's their problem.

9. “If you hate your parents, the Man or the Establishment, don’t show them up by getting wasted and wrapping your car around a tree. If you really want to rebel against your parents, out-learn them, outlive them and know more than they do.”

Feelings are good, strong feelings are better – but don’t let them rule you. Don’t let them funnel you down a terrible path or shove you into a corner. Take that energy and drive and use it to be something that those you wish to leave behind simply cannot be.

Being angry is a solo endeavour, being dead proves nothing, wasting your time hurts no one but you. Choose a different path.

10. “I want a soul mate who can sit me down, shut me up and tell me ten things I don’t already know, and make me laugh. I don’t care what you look like, just turn me on. And if you can do that I will follow you on bloody stumps through the snow”

Choose wisely. Then love with abandon.

11. “Don’t do anything by half. If you love someone love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone hate them until it hurts.”

Mediocrity makes us feel ok. If everyone is common, it's ok that I'm common. If no one has dreams and ambitions and is chasing that stuff down then it's ok if let some of that slide too.

Be incandescent in everything you do.

12. “Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes the night air smell better”

For many people the concept of time alone, without easy and constant distraction, is terrifying. Armed with nothing but time and the incessant chatting of the roommate that occupies your cranium.

But loneliness is essential – periods to clear the mental inbox, to find clarity by clearing away much of the background noise.

When we stop, look up, and out, we can finally see all manner of beauty in quiet and timeless things.

13. “The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”

Google ‘The Iron and the Soul’. Read it until it is etched into the very fibre of your being.

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