Quote

It is wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win.

Phil Ochs

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Phil Ochs
Age: 35 †
Born: 1940
Born: December 19
Died: 1976
Died: April 9
Guitarist
Poet
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Songwriter
El Paso
Texas
Philip David Ochs
Reward
Rewards
Expect
Struggle
Winning
Politics
Wrong
Struggles

More quotes by Phil Ochs

Image
Show me the prison, Show me the jail, Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale. And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why And there, but for fortune, go you or I.
Phil Ochs
Image
Beneath the greatest love lies a hurricane of hate.
Phil Ochs
Image
Oh you tell me that there's danger to the land you call your own, And you watch them build the war machine right beside your home, And you tell me that you're ready to go marchin' to the war, I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?
Phil Ochs
Image
One legged veterans will greet the dawn, and they're whistling marches as they mow the lawn, and the gargoyles on sit and grieve.
Phil Ochs
Image
One good song with a message can bring a point more deeply to more people than a thousand rallies.
Phil Ochs
Image
Maybe we should raise our voices, ask somebody why. But demonstrations are a drag, besides we're much too high.
Phil Ochs
Image
In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.
Phil Ochs
Image
The fortunes of the entire world may well ride on the ability of young Americans to face the responsibilities of an old America gone mad.
Phil Ochs
Image
Call it peace or call it treason / call it love or call it reason / but I ain't marching anymore
Phil Ochs
Image
The only possibility in the United States for a humane society would be a revolution with Elvis Presley as leader.
Phil Ochs
Image
I wonder who I left behind on the other side of fame.
Phil Ochs
Image
The people who carried the burden, who marked in strange field in search of an answer, and ended their journeys an unwilling hero.
Phil Ochs
Image
In every political community there are varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals. An outspoken group on many subjects. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times. Ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally. Here, then, is a lesson in safe logic.
Phil Ochs
Image
I write all my own songs and they are just simple melodies with a lot of lyrics. They usually have to do with current events and what is going on in the news. You can call them topical songs, songs about the news, and then developing into more philosophical songs later.
Phil Ochs
Image
There is an urgent need for Americans to look deeply into themselves and their actions, and musical poetry is perhaps the most effective mirror available. Every newspaper headline is a potential song.
Phil Ochs
Image
I can spare a dime, brother, but in these morally inflationary times, a dime goes a lot farther if it's demanding work rather than adding to the indignity of relief.
Phil Ochs
Image
It's always the old to lead us to the war. It's always the young to fall.
Phil Ochs
Image
Step outside the guidelines of the official umpires and make your own rules and your own reality.
Phil Ochs
Image
I like Hitler, jolly jolly Hitler.
Phil Ochs
Image
It is wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life.
Phil Ochs