Quote

If you're a writer you know that the stories don't come to you, you have to go looking for them. The old men in the lobby: that's where the stories were.

Tom Waits

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Tom Waits
Age: 74
Born: 1949
Born: December 7
Actor
Composer
Guitarist
Jazz Guitarist
Pianist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Writer
Pomona
California
Thomas Alan Waits
Lobby
Writer
Looking
Stories
Come
Men

More quotes by Tom Waits

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I don't think that you should be per­fectly candid and frank about the intimate details of your personal life with the public at large. Subsequently, it creates consider­able personal problems.
Tom Waits
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Sing me a rainbow. Steal me a dream.
Tom Waits
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slept all night in the cedar grove, i was born to ramble, born to rove, some men are searchin' for the holy grail, but there ain't nothin' sweeter than ridin' the rails
Tom Waits
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The blues and gospel stuff seemed to go together.
Tom Waits
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There's only one reason why you write new songs: You get sick of the old songs. It's not that I didn't do anything during the time when I wrote no songs. I was creative, but in another way. I had ideas for songs and collected the ideas.
Tom Waits
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Well it's hotter 'n blazes and all the long faces / there'll be no oasis for a dry local grazier
Tom Waits
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My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
Tom Waits
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Oh, I'm not a percussionist, I just like to hit things.
Tom Waits
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Chevrolet was puzzled when they discovered that their sales for the Chevy Nova were off the charts everywhere but in Latin America. They finally realized that Nova in Spanish translates to no go. Not the best name for a car... anywhere no va.
Tom Waits
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I like turning on two radios at once. I like hearing things wrong… I get a lot of ideas by mishearing things.
Tom Waits
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The folks who know the truth aren't talking.... The ones who don't have a clue, you can't shut them up!
Tom Waits
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I made a wish on a sliver of moonlight A sly grin and a bowl full of stars
Tom Waits
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You're innocent when you dream.
Tom Waits
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There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby.
Tom Waits
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When you're a kid and you're trying to find your own voice, it's rather daunting to hear somebody like Howlin' Wolf, because you know that you'll never achieve that.
Tom Waits
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They called it the Terminal Bar but they had no idea that like twenty years later the place'd be filling up with terminal cases.
Tom Waits
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Oh I don't mind going to weddings, just as long as it's not my own.
Tom Waits
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Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.
Tom Waits
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I was always laughing in church.
Tom Waits
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I saw a crow building a nest, I was watching him very carefully, I was kind of stalking him and he was aware of it. And you know what they do when they become aware of someone stalking them when they build a nest, which is a very vulnerable place to be? They build a decoy nest. It's just for you.
Tom Waits