Tom Petty Quotes

I've learned one thing, and that's to quit worrying about stupid things. You have four years to be irresponsible here, relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember the time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So stay out late. Go out with your friends on a Tuesday when you have a paper due on Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink 'til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does...

~ Tom Petty

I'm old enough to have lived in a country where, if you were willing to work hard, you could have a fairly nice life. You could support your family, and even get a shot at owning your own home. But you never thought you'd get a swimming pool. Now culture has hypnotised people into thinking they're really nothing if they're not wealthy and a Kardashian.

~ Tom Petty

Well I won't back downNo I won't back downYou can stand me up at the gates of hellBut I won't back down

~ Tom Petty

I think that if people realize that with an mp3, you're only getting five percent of the sound that's there. But when you hear the entire thing... I think it would save the music business. It's such a drastic change.

~ Tom Petty

The music business looks like, you know, innocent schoolboys compared to the TV business. They care about nothing but profit.

~ Tom Petty

I don't think it's a good attitude in your life to feel that you have to be rich to have self-esteem.

~ Tom Petty

When I go to see people, I always kind of hope they are going to play some kind of songs I know. So you've got to know your audience. It's kind of something that is a blessing and a curse in a way. You're obligated to play some of that stuff that people know, but I don't think that's all you have to do.

~ Tom Petty

Go after what you really love and find a way to make that work for you, and then you'll be a happy person.

~ Tom Petty

I love history, doesn't matter what era, I'm fascinated.

~ Tom Petty

Making a record? You've got to have the song, then you create a record. I think it's the same with a live performance. If the material is strong, you're already 90% there. I always tell young people it's all about the music, the songs. Work on the songs, work on the songs, work on the songs.

~ Tom Petty

When I decided to be a musician I reckoned that that was going to be the way of less profit, less money. I was sort of giving up the idea of making a lot of money. It was what I loved to do. I would have done it anyway. If I'd had to work at Taco Bell I'd have still been out at night trying to play music.

~ Tom Petty

Music is probably the only real magic I have encountered in my life. There's not some trick involved with it. It's pure and it's real. It moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things.

~ Tom Petty

It's funny how the music industry is enraged about the Internet and the way things are copied without being paid for. But you know why people steal the music? Because they can't afford the music.

~ Tom Petty

I don't know, my music has always just come from where the wind blew me. Like where I'm at during a particular moment in time.

~ Tom Petty

It's very easy to be cynical about the hall of fame. But on the other hand, it's really a beautiful thing for someone like me. I dedicated my entire life to this music.

~ Tom Petty

I developed a problem with authority. Any time that authority was what I interpreted as being unjust, I stood up to it, and that became my personality.

~ Tom Petty

The great thing about the Wilburys was that none of us had to take the heat by ourselves. I was just a member of the band. Nobody felt like he was above anybody else. We had such a good time.

~ Tom Petty

The first time I tried to write was when I was 14, after I got an electric guitar. I put a song together, and it wasn't that bad! The writing came natural to me.

~ Tom Petty

'Free Fallin' is a very good song. Maybe it would be one of my favorites if it hadn't become this huge anthem. But I'm grateful that people like it.

~ Tom Petty

I tend to write on an acoustic guitar or the piano. I have kind of a rule: if I can't sit down and play this and get the song over, I don't take it to the band, because most any good song, you can sit down and deliver it with a piano or a guitar.

~ Tom Petty

TV does not care about you or what happens to you. It's downright bad for your health now, and that's not a far-out concept. I think watching the TV news is bad for you. It is bad for your physical health and your mental health.

~ Tom Petty

When you get older, your health becomes important to you, things start breaking down, you've always got a different ache or pain.

~ Tom Petty

I have turned down a lot of money for things that would have made me feel cheesy.

~ Tom Petty

I think television's become a downright dangerous thing. It has no moral barometer whatsoever. If you want to talk about something that is all about money, just watch the television.

~ Tom Petty

The energy of the crowd is insane. Twenty thousand people. It's the biggest jolt of adrenaline. It's very hard to explain. You know the old story about the woman lifting the car off her kid? It's in that realm. You can actually hurt yourself and not know it.

~ Tom Petty

You get into your late fifties, people start falling like flies all around you. I don't take life for granted any more. I'm really glad to be here.

~ Tom Petty

Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I'm concerned, that's success.

~ Tom Petty

I don't treat the band like I'm above them or that they're a hired hand for me. We've never worked that way. So I'm a team player. I would be very uncomfortable having to do this alone.

~ Tom Petty