Quotessence
Home / Authors / Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa Quotes

Musician

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleIfsWantPositive AtheismThinkingAtheismKnowsMusicLittlesWriting

Famous Frank Zappa Quotes

“I don't think there's a problem. First of all, I don't think music turns people into social liabilities. Because you hear a lyric - there's no medical proof that a person hearing a lyric is going to act out the lyric. There's also no medical proof that if you hear any collection of vowels and consonants, that the hearing of that collection is going to send you to Hell.”

PeopleIfsThinkingFirstsPersonsProblemTurnsSocialHellAtheismHearingPositive AtheismProofMedicalCollectionsLiabilityVowelsConsonants
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image

“Anybody hear the great news, today? Jimmy Swaggart under investigation! Oh Ja-eezus! One day every one of those cocksuckers will get caught! I understand in the case of Mr. Swaggart, that he claims that it was not multiple encounters with many prostitutes - apparently, only one sweet young thing. And he did tell Cal Thomas of the Moral Majority that the sex act itself was not fully consumated. However he did admit to doing something por-no-graphic with the girl. Let's use our imaginations, ladies and gentlemen.”

UseTodayYoungGirlSexImaginationMoralCasesAtheismSweetOne DayNewsClaimsMajorityCaughtPositive AtheismGentlemanEncountersInvestigationMultipleGraphicJimmyLadies And GentlemenGreat News
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image

“The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow J on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?”

IfsChildrenChristianCertainOrderNextQualityMoralWifeWrittenDoorsAtheismMaterialsDemandProgramJewPositive AtheismEndlessBunchDoctrineWhat IfYellowEstablishmentHelplessExposureConcealedRatingParadesZionistQuality Control
Book:Real Frank Zappa Book
Create image

“I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a temporary license to exist, in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government. It doesn't own you.”

PeopleGivingBelieveLongGovernmentIndividualI BelieveDestinyDemocracyCitizensPromiseBehaveTemporaryLicense
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image

“It seems that the problem with government as an institution is uniformly bad, worldwide. It may be the ONLY thing that binds all nations together - the incompetence of all of their governments...The unions are the mafia, which is the CIA, which is the Catholic Church, which is the government, which is what's the difference? It's corrupt! It's the same guys pulling these strings, you know? One day he pulls the string and this lamp comes out, the next say he pulls the string and there's a missile coming out.”

KnowsMayProblemSeemsGovernmentTogetherGuyNextNationsDifferencesChurchOne DayCatholicInstitutionsUnionsStringsComing OutPullingLampsMafiaCatholic ChurchCiaMissilesIncompetence
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image

“Disco satisfied social as well as musical needs. Disco people got to dress up all the time and go to places ... where everybody sort of 'looked good' - and later, after an evening of chemical alteration, everybody looked even better, and the next thing they knew, they were getting The Blox Job. Punk, in the late seventies, purported to be a rebellion against this sort of silly behavior. Maniac bands started thrashing away in dingy little places with no decor, developing their own silly behavior. ... New wave evolved from punk, basically, by sterilizing its own safety pin.”

PeopleNeedsWellsLittlesJobsNextSocialBandBehaviorLateDressesSafetyMusicalWaveSillySatisfiedEveningDevelopingRebellionChemicalsPunkSeventiesPinsDiscoManiacsAlterationsDecorSafety Pins
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image

“All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff...Basically what people want to hear is: I love you, you love me, the leaves turn brown, they fell off the trees, the wind is blowing, it got cold, you went away, my heart broke, you came back, and my heart was okay...Modern music is people who can't think signing artists who can't write songs to make records for people who can't hear. Most people wouldn't know good music if it came up and bit them on the ass...If lyrics make people do things, how come we don't love each other?”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWantWritingHeartArtistSongTurnsStuffBitsRecordsWrittenTreeModernLove YouWindColdMy HeartMusic IsOkayAssBrokeBrownLove Each OtherSigningWigsHeart BrokeBlowing ItModern Music
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image

“Certification from one source or another seems to be the most important thing to people all over the world. A piece of paper from a school that says you're smart, a pat on the head from your parents that says you're good or some reinforcement from your peers that makes you think what you're doing is worthwhile. People are just waiting around to get certified.”

PeopleThinkingWorldImportantSeemsSchoolWaitingParentPiecesSourcePaperSmartImportant ThingsWorthwhilePeersMake You ThinkReinforcementWaiting Around
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image