50 Henry Rollins Quotes on Life and Politics

These Henry Rollins funny quotes will make you laugh hard and think deeply.

Henry Rollins is a musician, comedian, and activist known for his witty and wise takes on politics.

His wide range of skills and accomplishments will impress you.

As you read these Henry Rollins quotes, you will gain a deeper appreciation for his ideas, talent, and hard work.

Whether you know Henry Rollins from his music, acting, speeches, standup, or from somewhere else, you’ll love this collection of inspirational quotes.

What is the secret to becoming a versatile and successful person?

This list of quotes includes funny jokes, Henry Rollins’ spoken word, and clever political commentary.

Henry Rollins is proof that you can accomplish anything if you are passionate about your cause and willing to put in the effort.

If you’re interested in learning more about this successful individual, read this collection of quotes along with any Henry Rollins books.

Don’t forget to also check out these Louis C.K. quotes about life and comedy.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Check out our entire collection of motivational quotes here. 

Inspirational Henry Rollins quotes on life and politics

1. “Sometimes the truth hurts. And sometimes it feels real good.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: The truth doesn’t change. A truth can be hurtful but it can also ultimately set you free. Accepting a truth that is hard to hear of acknowledge can set you on a new path that leads to wonderful things and life changing revelations. It might hurt, but it might be just the thing that makes you feel real good.

You will also enjoy our article on American Psycho quotes.

2. “Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: This is simple biology. Scar tissue is strong than skin, because scars are made of fiber, and not skin cells. The collagen proteins form in one direction making the skin less elastic. When you go through something, and you heal, you are stronger. Recognize that and be the warrior you are.

3. “My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: If you want things to change, you can’t just sit by idly. You have to be loud and intense. Face your situation with an attitude that implies you came to play. Be prepared to not be pushed around!

4. “You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: It takes a little of what people call insanity to persist trying something repeatedly. In fact, a popular definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” could be used to describe Edison’s quest to create the light bulb!

5. “In winter, I plot and plan. In spring, I move.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: Just like the year has seasons, so does our life. There is a season for thinking and planning. Then there is a time for action. We can not plot and plan and never take moves. However, we can’t always act without thinking either. Both are important.

6. “It’s sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: This is always sad, but not always a bad thing. Who you keep in your inner circle matters. If people are toxic, then removing them from your life is sometimes for the best. Whatever the situation is that leads up to someone you know becoming someone you knew, you will be alright.

7. “Hope is the last thing a person does before they are defeated.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: Research has concluded that hope can help us manage stress. It can also aid when feeling anxiety and or coping with adversity. It is essential to our mental well-being. Reach within yourself and be as hopeful as you can when you are facing your biggest challenges. You might still get defeated, and at that point, try to learn what went wrong. Don’t lose hope, you can try again!

8. “Don’t do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: Always do your best! The results of that effort will speak for themselves! Doing your best means accepting that you might have to make several attempts before being successful. Ideally, you are learning something with every attempt, that will make your best even better!

9. “Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: The flipside of every powerful emotion adds to the beauty of life. It makes us appreciate things more. Those things might be the simple beauty of the world around us, or relationships, hope, and love. When you know what it feels like to lose or be without those things, you learn to cherish them more when you have them in your life.

10. “Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: Take good care of yourself! You matter. It is important to remember not to neglect parts of yourself in that process. Your mental and physical health are equally important to living a healthy lifestyle.

Henry Rollins quotes to motivate you

11. “Nothing brings people together more, then mutual hatred.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: This is not a new concept. The quote “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” shows just how mutual hatred can work. However, just imagine the way we could all come together if we had a hatred for injustice, and well, hate.

12. “I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: Your true self is deep inside you. Sometimes, you just have to get past your prior experiences, beliefs, and thoughts to discover who that is. Start chiseling away at the things you think about yourself and discover who you and what you were meant to be. This starts with increasing your self-awareness through things like meditation, journaling, and questioning.

13. “I’m not interested in censorship. I like the First Amendment very much.” ― Henry Rollins

14. “When you are young, there is so much ahead of you, it’s like the Saharan desert. You can’t even see across it.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: It can be overwhelming when there is so much ground to be covered. You might have no idea where to start, how long the journey will be, or even where exactly you are headed. While you are young is a good time to try and figure that out, but don’t worry too much. You are never too old to change course, learn new things, or reinvent yourself.

15. “Weakness is what brings ignorance, cheapness, racism, homophobia, desperation, cruelty, brutality, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.” ― Henry Rollins

16. “Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a hopeless romantic who listens to love ballads and doo-wop songs all the time.” ― Henry Rollins

17. “You must never lower yourself to being a person you don’t like.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: Liking yourself might just be the secret to a happy and fulfilled life. If you truly like who you are, then you will be more confident. When you begin to do things that make you not like who you are, that confidence will dip. When you don’t like yourself it is next to impossible to live the life you want. Either you do not feel like you deserve it, or do not believe in yourself enough to go after it. Check out this article for tips on how to truly like yourself.

18. “When people hold you in high esteem, it’s very delicate relationship. When they meet you they’re putting all their chips up. It’s make or break.” ― Henry Rollins

19. “Pizza makes me think that anything is possible.” ― Henry Rollins

20. “We all learn lessons in life. Some stick, some don’t. I have always learned more from rejection and failure than from acceptance and success.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: We learn lessons in life in a variety of ways. One of the biggest ways we learn is through mistakes and failures. Not only do these events leave us with practical knowledge we can use for next time, but it teaches us something about how strong we are. It teaches us exactly what we are willing to struggle for and to what degree. We learn who we are and what we are capable of when we fail and try again.

Henry Rollins quotes to lift your mood

21. “If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light, If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you.” ― Henry Rollins

22. “When you start to doubt yourself the real world will eat you alive.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: Believing in yourself is one of the most important things you can do to push past your limits. The brain will believe what we tell it, so if you are thinking about the things you “can’t” do, then you will be correct and unable to do them. There are times your doubt can help you though!

23.“There is not one single police officer in America that I am not afraid of and not one that I would trust to tell the truth or obey the laws they are sworn to uphold. I do not believe they protect me in any way.” ― Henry Rollins

24. “Where there is young people and vitality, you’re going to find punk rock.” ― Henry Rollins

25. “I am on until I am dead, like a light bulb.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: As long as you are alive you have the chance to change your life. We are all just one choice and decision away from a different life, and we choose to change our path at any time. You just have to be alive an “on.” Check out this article for tips on keeping your energy high and maintaining a healthy state of mind.

26. “It is only our humanity that can deliver us from the brutality of our achievements.” ― Henry Rollins

27. “To this day, my haircut is the number two clippers, which I apply to myself every month.” ― Henry Rollins

28. “Now and then, someone is able to look at an empty space, conclude it would be a great place to start a revolution, and bravely go forward.” ― Henry Rollins

29. “I don’t believe in fate or destiny. I believe in various degrees of hatred, paranoia, and abandonment. However much of that gets heaped upon you doesn’t matter – it’s only a matter of how much you can take and what it does to you.” ― Henry Rollins

30. “I think that humans have a huge capacity to carry pain and sadness. There are things that haunt us our entire lives; we are unable to let them go. The good times seem almost effervescent and dreamlike in comparison with the times that didn’t go so well.” ― Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins quotes that will brighten your day

31. “Life will not break your heart. It’ll crush it.” ― Henry Rollins

32. “Questioning anything and everything, to me, is punk rock.” ― Henry Rollins

33. “If I had to live my life in anticipation of what others thought of me, little would get done.” ― Henry Rollins

34. “With any advent in technology, any technological innovation, there is the good and the bad.” ― Henry Rollins

35. “The kid who throws his spaghetti from the high chair onto his father’s face, he’s pushing back. He’s sticking it to the man as he sees it. I like that. So that is punk.” ― Henry Rollins

36. “The only difference between me and others is that they think they can change something with cute little poems, nice cards, or embracing trees and being nice to little lapdogs.” ― Henry Rollins

37. “If the Constitution was a movie, the Preamble would be the trailer, the First Amendment the establishing shot, the 13th the crowd-pleaser, and the 14th the ultimate hero scene.” ― Henry Rollins

38. “I think it’s fantastic when the young enrage their elders. I really do believe that if it’s too loud, you are indeed too old and that if it has been standing for too long, it needs a thorough inspection.” ― Henry Rollins

39. “When I’m off the road, and I can really control my diet down to the calorie, I juice seven days a week. Every afternoon, whatever I have at hand, beets, carrots, ginger, whatever. I juice, literally, every single day. And on the road, I try to find fresh juice wherever I can.” ― Henry Rollins

40. “I wasn’t playing the music, the music was playing me… and once that went away, and I had the feeling I was playing music, I had to stop. The need to go on stage and get my brain flattened every night left me, and what I didn’t wanna do is go onstage and perpetrate a fraud… You cannot fool an audience.” ― Henry Rollins

Everyday Application: What others think of you is irrelevant! It is what you think about yourself, how you act, and what you choose that gets things done in life. Don’t take things personally and live your life doing what is best for you. Some people might think you are crazy for leaving a good job to pursue your dream, but it is your dream and your life. You get to live it!

More Henry Rollins quotes

41. “One person’s disaster is another person’s talking point.” ― Henry Rollins

42. “Music keeps you young. Having music in your life keeps you open to things.” ― Henry Rollins

43. “To hate is to show you still care, who needs that, focus on what’s really important.” ― Henry Rollins

44. “Maybe I’m just a psycho, and the stage is a better place to go than either the loony bin or somewhere else.” ― Henry Rollins

45. “I try to get myself up and moving as early as possible. Optimum is to be on the treadmill while it is still dark outside.” ― Henry Rollins

46. “I think self-reliance and self-responsibility and self-accountability will help you as a parent, a teacher, as a citizen as a friend.” ― Henry Rollins

47. “The month of November makes me feel that life is passing more quickly. In an effort to slow it down, I try to fill the hours more meaningfully.” ― Henry Rollins

48. “I am an optimist because I want to change things for the better and I know that blood has to be spilled and disharmony and cruelty are necessary to do that.” ― Henry Rollins

49. “I get angry about stuff, I get very emotionally intense about stuff and that’s how I get it out – with books, with the band, on my own on stage, but it’s always kind of a wail.” ― Henry Rollins

50. “When you’re going into an employment environment that looks pretty scary, it is easy to lose your moral compass, your decency, your sense of civility, and your sense of community.” ― Henry Rollins

What are your favorite Henry Rollins quotes on politics, love, and travel?

There are many reasons to be a Henry Rollins fan.

As a singer and musician, he’s known for his work with Black Flag and for his solo releases.

As a speaker, author, and presenter, Henry Rollins is beloved for his wisdom and insight.

As a comedian, people love Henry Rollins funny quotes and witty commentary.

This collection of Henry Rollins quotes on life will inspire you to be the change you want to see in the world.

If you do the right thing and learn as much as you can in life, you will be able to accomplish great things.

Read these quotes to change your mindset and your mood for a more fulfilling future.

What are your favorite Henry Rollins quotes and sayings on life, love, and politics?

Let us know in the comment section below.