Natalie Merchant quotes

I wish I had appreciated my youth - I should have worn tighter clothing when I could have!
-- Natalie Merchant

#Wish #Youth #Appreciated

I've raised my daughter with no television.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Mother #Daughter #Television

Literature gives us a window into other people's experiences in other places, in other times, so I thought it would be really interesting to investigate how different people had written about motherhood, and childhood.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Motherhood #Giving #Interesting

I can't remove the autobiographical slant from the things I write. You always bring yourself into what you're writing.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Writing

I don't think women's prisons are environments for dance routines, and I don't think mass murder is humorous.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Humorous #Thinking #Murder

I don't want to live in a culture of despair. I'd like to live in a culture of hope.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Despair #Want #Culture

I would say I'd rather dig a ditch, you know, do hard, manual labor than write lyrics.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Writing #Labor

I'm on this search trying to figure out exactly who I am and what I have to say to people.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Who I Am #People #Trying

It's funny, I remember doing the Johnny Carson show, and, uh, I couldn't afford my rent.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Remember #Shows

It's really wonderful to be able to be nobody, and then have a moment when I can be somebody, and then go right back to being nobody again.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Able #Wonderful #Moments

The research phase was really fascinating - I'm not a closeted nerd, I'm an out-of-the-closet nerd.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Nerd #Phases #Research

I think of myself as a musician and not a celebrity. Celebrity status is something you have to deliberately pursue - I couldn't imagine myself seeking that.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Thinking #Musician #Imagine

I've found out how overwhelming the media is and the way it drills things into your head, it's almost like a mind control. If I could control prople's minds, I'd like to put something useful in.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Media #Mind #Way

My mother was a single working mother; she started having children very young. There was a tension inside her about who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do and how she couldn't achieve the things she wanted to.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Mother #Children #Achieve

Be true to yourself, and, um, don't worry about some large companies' quarterly profit index.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Worry #Be True To Yourself #Profit

I was shy. Bookish. The kind of 13-year-old girl who, instead of having a boyfriend, would have a crush on a dead, 19th-century author!
-- Natalie Merchant

#Girl #Crush #Years

Poetry comes alive to me through recitation.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Alive

I’ve always considered it a great privilege to be a musician, I’ve never lost sight of that.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Sight #Privilege #Musician

I think the most enduring lesson I was taught through my experiences of being a Girl Scout was that I was a member of a larger community. I out-grew my uniforms and badges years ago, but the memories of visiting nursing homes or organizing Earth Day tree plantings or my summers camping with girls from all different backgrounds will stay with me always.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Girl #Summer #Memories

I feel we all have the obligation, myself. I want to live in a more humane, civilized society, and I feel like the only way we're going to achieve that is if we all take it upon ourselves. I just wish we could be a more caring society. I feel like we're social Darwinists who believe that everyone has to make it on their own. But the reality is that we all don't start out on the same footing.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Believe #Caring #Reality

For they told you life is hard Misery from the start, It's dull, it's slow, it's painful But I tell you life is sweet In spite of the misery There's so much more, be grateful So, who will you believe Who will you listen to Who will it be 'Cause it's high time that you decide It's time to make up your own Your own state of mind Oh they told you life is long Be thankful when it's done Don't ask for more, be grateful But I tell you life is short Be thankful because Before you know it It will be over 'Cause life is sweet, life is also very short
-- Natalie Merchant

#Song #Sweet #Believe

I've walked these streets, in a carnival of sights to see. All the cheap thrill seekers, the vendors & the dealers, they crowded around me. Have I been blind? Have I been lost, inside myself and my own mind? Hypnotized, mesmerized, by what my eyes have seen? I've walked these streets, in a spectacle of wealth & poverty. In the diamond market, the scarlet welcome carpet that they just rolled out for me.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Travel #Eye #Sight

Im going to be shaking my booty when Im 55.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Booty #Shaking

For your kindness, I'm in debt to you. For your selflessness, my admiration.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Friendship #Kindness #Debt

Have I been blind, have I been lost, inside myself and my own mind?
-- Natalie Merchant

#Mind #Blind #Lost

There is one tradition in America I am proud to inherit. It is our first freedom and the truest expression of our Americanism: the ability to dissent without fear. It is our right to utter the words, I disagree. We must feel at liberty to speak those words to our neighbors, our clergy, our educators, our news media, our lawmakers and, above all, to the one among us we elect President.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Media #Expression #America

Have I been wrong? Have I been wise to shut my eyes?
-- Natalie Merchant

#Wise #Philosophy #Eye

I go to the river from time to time to ponder over the crazy days in my life. Watch the river flow, ease my mind and soul where I go.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Philosophy #Crazy #Rivers

Life is sweet, life is also very short.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Sweet #Philosophy #Life Is

TV holds a close second to cars for destroying our society. It's a failed experiment.
-- Natalie Merchant

#Car #Television #Our Society