52 Inspirational Bob Dylan Quotes (SONGWRITER)

Top 10 Most Famous Bob Dylan Quotes to Inspire You

“I’ve never been able to understand the seriousness of it all, the seriousness of pride. People talk, act, and live as if they’re never going to die. And what do they leave behind? Nothing. Nothing but a mask.”
Bob Dylan

Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain. — Behind every beautiful thing, there’s some kind of pain.

There’s a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it.

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do. — A man is a **success** if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.

I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I'll die like a poet. — I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I’ll die like a poet.

I accept chaos, I'm not sure whether it accepts me. — I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.

Don't criticize what you can't understand. — Don’t criticize what you can’t understand.

You learn from a conglomeration of the incredible past – whatever experience gotten in any way whatsoever.

Life is more or less a lie, but then again, that’s exactly the way we want it to be.

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.

42 Inspirational Bob Dylan Quotes to Motivate and Empower You

“Passion is a young man’s game. Young people can be passionate. Older people got to be wiser. I mean, you’re around awhile, you leave certain things to the young. Don’t try to act like you’re young. You could really hurt yourself.”
Bob Dylan

Pain brings out the best in people, doesn’t it?

You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way.

I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours. — I’ll let you be in my **dreams** if I can be in yours.

Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you’d like to act.

The future for me is already a thing of the past – You were my first love and you will be my last. — The **future** for me is already a thing of the past – You were my first **love** and you will be my last.

“When you feel in your gut what you are and then dynamically pursue it – don’t back down and don’t give up – then you’re going to mystify a lot of folks.”
Bob Dylan

Gonna change my way of thinking, make myself a different set of rules. Gonna put my good foot forward and stop being influenced by fools. — Gonna **change** my way of thinking, make myself a different set of rules. Gonna put my good foot forward and stop being influenced by fools.

A lot of people can't stand touring but to me it's like breathing. I do it because I'm driven to do it. — A lot of people can’t stand touring but to me it’s like **breathing**. I do it because I’m driven to do it.

Sometimes it’s not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don’t mean.

“You’re going to die. You’re going to be dead. It could be 20 years, it could be tomorrow, anytime. So am I. I mean, we’re just going to be gone. The world’s going to go on without us. All right now. You do your job in the face of that, and how seriously you take yourself you decide for yourself.”
Bob Dylan

There is no equality. The only thing people all have in common is that they are all going to die. — There is no **equality**. The only thing people all have in common is that they are all going to die.

I think women rule the world and that no man has ever done anything that a woman either hasn't allowed him to do or encouraged him to do. — I think women rule the world and that no man has ever done anything that a woman either hasn’t allowed him to do or **encouraged** him to do.

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.

It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart.

People talk about egos as if it were objects.

I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. — I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of **responsibility** that comes with his **freedom**.

People need to be encouraged, not stepped on and put in a straitjacket! — People need to be **encouraged**, not stepped on and put in a straitjacket!

“All right, I’ll take a chance. I will fall in love with you. If I’m a fool you can have the night, you can have the morning too. Can you cook and sew. Make flowers grow. Do you understand my pain? Are you willing to risk it all or is your love in vain?”
Bob Dylan

You can never be wise and be in love at the same time. — You can never be **wise** and be in **love** at the same time.

You’re gonna have to serve somebody; well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody…

When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. — When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.

It frightens me, the awful truth, of how sweet life can be… — It frightens me, the awful **truth**, of how sweet life can be…

Everything passes. Everything changes. Just do what you think you should do. — Everything passes. Everything **changes**. Just do what you think you should do.

“May God bless and keep you always, may your wishes all come true, may you always do for others And let others do for you. May you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung, may you stay forever young,”
Bob Dylan

At times in my life the only place I have been happy is when I am on stage. — At times in my life the only place I have been **happy** is when I am on stage.

To live outside the law you must be honest.

May your heart always be joyful. May your song always be sung.

Experience teaches us that silence terrifies people the most.

If you want to keep your memories, you first have to live them. — If you want to keep your **memories**, you first have to live them.

“I don’t think the human mind can comprehend the past and the future. They are both just illusions that can manipulate you into thinking there’s some kind of change.”
Bob Dylan

Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be. — Basically you have to suppress your own **ambitions** in order to be who you need to be.

I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be.

The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on.

Funny, how the things you have the hardest time parting with are the things you need the least. — Funny, how the things you have the hardest **time** parting with are the things you need the least.

Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.

“What was the future? The future was a solid wall, not promising, not threatening – all bunk. No guarantees of anything, not even the guarantee that life isn’t one big joke.”
Bob Dylan

Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it's like they didn't fade away at all. — Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it’s like they didn’t fade away at all.

It’s not important what other people call you. If you yourself know you’re a fake, that’s tougher to live with.

When you think that you lost everything you find out you can always lose a little more.

Bob Dylan Short Biography

Born 24 May 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, Robert Allen Zimmerman, who later changed his name to Bob Dylan, is an American singer-songwriter and is considered one of the most influential voices in American History.

At a young age, Dylan was influenced by legends such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard.

Dylan entered college in 1959 at the University of Minnesota. After which he started performing as ‘Bob Dillon’ in cafes.

Dylan dropped out of school and in 1960 moved to New York. In New York, he started performing regularly at folk clubs and coffeehouses.

He signed with Columbia in 1961 and legally changed his last name to ‘Dylan’. A year after he released two original songs with Columbia.

In 1963 he released The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan which introduced his emergence as one of the most poetic and original voices in pop music.

After several years of success and a motorcycle accident, Dylan launched a full-scale tour in 1974, during this time his album: Planet Waves became his first No.1 album ever.

Dylan continued to tour through the 80s, bringing along rock legends such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

In 1989 Bob Dylan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on October 13, 2016.

By June 2020 Dylan has released 39 studio albums.

Further Reading:

11 Things we Learned Bob Dylan’s New Rare Interview – Star Tribune
The Rambling Glory of Bob Dylan’s Nobel Speech – The New Yorker
In His Own Words: Why Bob Dylan Paints – Vanity Fair

Here are the best Bob Dylan quotes so you can be motivated to constantly push yourself to achieve groundbreaking goals in your career.

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Bob Dylan Short Biography

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