Frank Zappa Men Quotations

Elmer has the mentality of approximately one peanut.

What kind of man can name a child Moon Unit?

It's a despicable thing to share your personal inner torment for money.

Don't go to bed with any woman crazier than you are.

. . . behind each breakaway movement is a breakaway demagogue who will set up his breakaway demagogue government.

Do we really want to know how Michael Jackson makes his music? No. We want to understand why he needs the bones of the Elephant Man -- and, until he tells us, it doesn't make too much difference whether or not he really is ''bad.

The most abundant element in the Universe is stupidity

Jazz is the music of unemployment.

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.

A composer's job involves the decoration of fragments of time.

They's making it worse, the labor movement got the mafia curse.

Basically I'm in the idea business -- whether it's a musical idea or a spoken idea ... If you wind up with a political system that wants to put idea men out of business, then you have worry on your hands.

The ONLY thing that seems to band all nations together, is that their governments are universally bad....

We could improve worldwide mental health if we acknowledged that parents can make you crazy.

All the old history was written for the amusement of the ruling classes. The lower classes couldn't read, and their rulers didn't care about remembering what happened to them.

Music is always a commentary on society.

Anything played wrong twice in a row is the beginning of an arrangement.

Consider for a moment any beauty in the name Ralph.

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.

One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds.

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.

I think that people are entitled to be amused, and entertained. If they see deviations from this classical norm, it's probably good for their mental health.

I believe that people have a right to decide their own destiny; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only as 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. Along with this comes a responsibility to ensure that individual actions, in the pursuit of a personal destiny, do not threaten the well-being of others while the "pursuit" is in progress.

A wise man once said, never discuss philosophy or politics in a disco environment.

Americans like to talk about (or be told about) Democracy but, when put to the test, usually find it to be an 'inconvenience.' We have opted instead for an authoritarian system disguised as a Democracy. We pay through the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and then wonder how all those assholes got in there.

Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.

I'm vile and perverted. I'm obsessed and deranged. I've existed for years but very little has changed. I'm the tool of the government and industry too. For I'm destined to rule and regulate you. You may think I'm pernicious, but you can't look away. I'll make you think I'm delicious with the stuff that I say. I'm the best you can get... have you guessed me yet? I'm the slime oozing out of your TV set....