My theory is that music is good, it's the only religion that delivers the goods. And anybody who wants to hear any kind of music is entitled to hear that music because it's good for you – it makes you feel good. If you like it, go for it. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean anything – it's a matter of personal taste.

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre. 1977

Scientology, how about that? You hold on to the tin cans and then this guy asks you a bunch of questions, and if you pay enough money you get to join the master race. How's that for a religion? To a concert audience at the Rockpile, Toronto, May 1969.

Children are naïve -- they trust everyone. School is bad enough, but, if you put a child anywhere in the vicinity of a church, you're asking for trouble.

If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT.

Rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, in order to provide articles for people who can't read.

The biggest threat to America today is not communism. It's moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan administration is steering us right down that pipe ... When you have a government that prefers a certain moral code derived from a certain religion and that moral code turns into legislation to suit one certain religious point of view, and if that code happens to be very, very right wing, almost toward Attila the Hun... 1986 appearance on Crossfire (TV series)

When god created Republicans, he gave up on everything else.

Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff.

Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny. 'Be-Bop Tango'

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

The disgusting stink of a too loud electric guitar; now that's my idea of a good time.

Modern music is a sick puppy.

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

All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.

I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner? Senate Hearing on Porn Rock (1985) in response to Tipper Gore's allegations that music incites people towards deviant behavior, or influences their behavior in general (he is referring to his song "Montana").

If people stop copying my music, I should start to worry.

The person who stands up and says, 'This is stupid,' either is asked to behave or, worse, is greeted with a cheerful 'Yes, we know! Isn't it terrific!'

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

Don't eat the yellow snow.

Let's not be too rough on our own ignorance, it's what makes America great! The Tonight Show (June 29th, 1988)

Tobacco is my favorite vegetable. Interview, 1993.

The creation and destruction of harmonic and 'statistical' tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese.

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

Gail has said in interviews that one of the things that makes our relationship work is the fact that we hardly ever get to talk to each other.