Quotes by Richard Thompson

“To stand up on a stage alone with an acoustic guitar requires bravery bordering on heroism. Bordering on insanity.””

“The Republican establishment is haunted by painful memories of what happened to Old Man Bush in 1992. He peaked too early and he had no response to “It’s the economy, stupid.” Which has always been the case. Every GOP administration since 1952 has let the military-industrial complex loot the Treasury and plunge the nation into debt on the excuse of a wartime economic emergency. Richard Nixon comes quickly to mind, along with Ronald Reagan and his ridiculous “trickle-down” theory of U.S. economic policy. If the Rich get Richer, the theory goes, before long their pots will overflow and somehow “trickle down” to the poor, who would rather eat scraps off the Bush family plates than eat nothing at all. Republicans have never approved of democracy, and they never will. It goes back to preindustrial America, when only white male property owners could vote.””

“I’ve spent enough time in jackrabbit country to know that most of them lead pretty dull lives . . . No wonder some of them drift over the line into cheap thrills once in a while; there has to be a powerful adrenaline rush in crouching by the side of a road, waiting for the next set of headlights to come along, then streaking out of the bushes with split-second timing and making it across to the other side just inches in front of the speeding front wheels.””

“ROSS PEROT was the best thing that happened in American politics since Richard Nixon acquired a taste for gin. In both cases, the political dialogue of the day was enriched by spontaneous gibberish that entertained the wrong people and made the right ones question their faith.””

“One of the strangest things about these five downhill years of the Nixon presidency is that despite all the savage excesses committed by the people he chose to run the country, no real opposition or realistic alternative to Richard Nixon’s cheap and mean-hearted view of the American Dream has ever developed. It is almost as if that sour 1968 election rang down the curtain on career politicians. This is the horror of American politics today - not that Richard Nixon and his fixers have been crippled, convicted, indicted, disgraced and even jailed - but that the only available alternatives are not much better; the same dim collection of burned-out hacks who have been fouling our air with their gibberish for the last tenty years. How long, oh Lord, how long? And how much longer will we have to wait before some high-powered shark with a fistful of answers will finally bring us face-to-face with the ugly question that is already so close to the surface in this country, that sooner or later even politicians will have to cope with it? Is this democracy worth all the risks and problems that necessarily go with it? Or, would we all be happier by admitting that the whole thing was a lark from the start and now that it hasn’t worked out, to hell with it.””

“Life is just as deadly as it looks, but fiction is more forgiving.””

“Nixon stabbed his Enemies in the back, but Clinton did it to his Friends. His lust to inflict Punishment surpassed even Nixon’s, and he put more people in prison than Caligula. He had his own brother locked up & he refused to pardon his old friend Webb Hubbell.… Richard Nixon was a criminally insane Monster; Bill Clinton is a black-hearted Swine of a friend.””

“I've never given much thought to grants but now that LeRoi Jones has a Guggenheim I have to consider the possibility of a new era, for good or ill. So if you're sitting down there on a bundle of loose cash I'd appreciate any and all advice as to how I might lay my hands on some of it.- in a letter to Richard Scowcroft dated 5/13/1965””

“Evеrуbоdу has the ѕуmрtоmѕ of ADD/ADHD, аnd аnуоnе with аdеԛuаtе intеlligеnсе can overcome these diffiсultiеѕ.””

“There may not be much difference between Democrats and Republicans; I have made that argument myself”

“Even now, more than 30 years later, I still judge people on the basis of whether they voted for Jack Kennedy in 1960, or for Richard Nixon...Those bastards are scarred forever, and I'm not. At least not for that. Hell, it was an honor to be able to vote against Richard Nixon - and it will be an honor on November 3 [1992] to vote against George Bush and everything he stands for.””

“I’m a fool with a size one head/I’ll change this heart of mine/This time, this time””

“Said Red Molly to James that's a fine motorbikeA girl could feel special on any such likeSaid James to Red Molly, my hat's off to youIt's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952And I've seen you at the corners and cafes it seemsRed hair and black leather, my favourite colour schemeAnd he pulled her on behindAnd down to Boxhill they did rideSaid James to Red Molly, here's a ring for your right handBut I'll tell you in earnest I'm a dangerous manI've fought with the law since I was seventeenI robbed many a man to get my Vincent machineNow I'm 21 years, I might make 22And I don't mind dying, but for the love of youAnd if fate should break my strideThen I'll give you my Vincent to rideCome down, come down, Red Molly, called Sergeant McRaeFor they've taken young James Adie for armed robberyShotgun blast hit his chest, left nothing insideOh, come down, Red Molly to his dying bedsideWhen she came to the hospital, there wasn't much leftHe was running out of road, he was running out of breathBut he smiled to see her cryAnd said I'll give you my Vincent to rideSays James, in my opinion, there's nothing in this worldBeats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girlNow Nortons and Indians and Greeveses won't doThey don't have a soul like a Vincent 52He reached for her hand and he slipped her the keysHe said I've got no further use for theseI see angels on Ariels in leather and chromeSwooping down from heaven to carry me homeAnd he gave her one last kiss and diedAnd he gave her his Vincent to ride””