60 Quotes by Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin was a singular force in the world of rock music, her voice a raw, impassioned expression of the human experience. With a voice that dripped with emotion, she transcended genres, injecting her bluesy soul into the rock and psychedelic scene of the 1960s. Her performances were cathartic, a torrent of feeling that resonated with listeners grappling with the tumultuous times. Joplin's vocal prowess was equaled by her unapologetic authenticity – she laid bare her vulnerabilities and insecurities in her songs, giving voice to the pain and longing that many felt but few dared to voice. In a music landscape dominated by men, she challenged conventions, proving that women could be as bold, as uninhibited, and as powerful as their male counterparts. Her legacy endures not just in her music but as a testament to the transformative power of embracing one's true self and letting that authenticity reverberate across generations.
Janis Joplin Quotes
You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow. (Meaning)
To be true to myself, to be the person that was on the inside of me, and not play games. That's what I'm trying to do mostly in the whole world, is not bullshit myself and not bullshit anybody else.
The more you live, the less you die.
I just want to feel as much as I can, it's what soul is all about.
Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That's what music is to me.” – Janis Joplin
Singing, it's like it's like loving somebody, it's a supreme emotional and physical experience.
Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.
Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz - My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Freedom is just another word for when you have NOTHING left to lose.
When you hold somebody, you gotta hold them like it's the last minute of your life.
I got treated very badly in Texas. They don't treat beatniks too good in Texas. Port Arthur people thought I was a beatnik, though they'd never seen one and neither had I.
Like most girls I'm always really self-conscious about do I look fat, if my legs are short, if I'm weird shaped, but when I go on stage, man, it never occurs to me. I think I look beautiful.
Don't compromise your self, you're all you got. (Meaning)
If you've got a today, don't wear it tomorrow. Tomorrow never happens. It's all the same day.
You're only as much as you settle for. If they settle for being somebody's dishwasher that's their own f***ing problem. If you don't settle for that and you keep fighting it, you know, you'll end up anything you want to be.
You know you've got it, if it makes you feel good.
You are what you settle for. (Meaning)
It used to make me unhappy, all that feeling. I just didn't know what to do with it. But now I've learned how to make feeling work for me. I don't know, I just want to feel as much as I can, it's what 'soul' is all about.
I think I think too much. That's why I drink!
When I sing, I feel like when you're first in love. It's more than sex. It's that point two people can get to they call love, when you really touch someone for the first time, but it's gigantic, multiplied by the whole audience. I feel chills.
I'm one of those regular weird people. (Meaning)
Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers.
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
It's not what isn't, it's what you wish was that makes unhappiness.
As good as you've been to this world is as good as it's gonna be right back to you.
I always wanted to be an artist, whatever that was, like other chicks want to be stewardesses. I read. I painted. I thought.
Hippies believe the world could be a better place. Beatniks believe things aren’t going to get better and say the hell with it, stay stoned and have a good time.
I'm not really thinking much... Just sort of, trying to feel.
Don't you know that you're nothing more than a one night stand?
If I hold back, I'm no good. I'm no good. I'd rather be good sometimes, than holding back all the time.
I'm just doing what I wanted to and what feels right and not settling for bullshit and it worked. How can they be mad at that?
This whole thing that's happened to me, you see, this whole success thing..it hasn't yet really compromised the position that I took a long time ago in Texas, that was to be true to myself, to be the person that I...that was on inside of me and not play games.
If you can get them once, man, get them standing up when they should be sitting down, sweaty when they should be decorous, smile when they should be applauding politely-and I think you sort of switch on their brain, man, so that makes them say: 'Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.' Whoooooo! It's life. That's what rock and roll is for, turn that switch on, and man, it can all be.
If someone comes along, gonna give you some love and affection, I say get it while you can.
The older the grapes, sweeter the wine. (Meaning)
It's hard to be free but when it works, it's worth it!
On stage I make love to twenty five thousand people; and then I go home alone.
Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.
My business is to enjoy and have fun. And why not, if in the end everything will end, right?
You are what you settle for. You are only as much as you settle for.
People, whether they know it or not, like their blues singers miserable. They like their blues singers to die afterwards.
Don't go looking for Mr. Right. Look for Mr. Right Now.
I would trade all my tomorrow's for one single yesterday.
You know why we're stuck with the myth that only black people have soul? Because white people don't let themselves feel things.
I can't talk about my singing; I'm inside it. How can you describe something you're inside of?
Why should I hold back now and sound mediocre, just so I can sound mediocre twenty years from now?
You can feel all things at once, so why not wear all things at once?
I'm tired of all these hippie jack-offs
Distance cannot kill this relationship. Time cannot breakdown anything we have. This is a relationship that I am ready to sacrifice and stand up for.
I won't quit to become someone's old lady.
All any girl really wants is just love and a man. But what man can put up with a rock-n-roll star?
Guess what, I might be the first hippie pinup girl.
In my insides, it really hurts if someone doesn't like me. It's silly.
I'd rather not sing than sing quiet.
I started singing rhythmically, and now I'm learning from Otis Redding to push a song instead of just sliding over it
I had a lot of hurts and confusions. You know, it's hard when you're a kid to be different. You're all full of things, and you don't know that it's about.
What we've had to do is learn to control success, put it in perspective, and not lose the essence of what we're doing - the music.
You got to get it while you can.
Maybe my audiences can enjoy my music more if they think I'm destroying myself.
After they see me, when their mothers are feeding them all that cashmere sweater and girdle ----- [expletive deleted by the New York Times], maybe they'll have a second thought - that they can be themselves and win.
You better not compromise yourself, it's all you've got.
At my concerts most of the chicks are looking for liberation, they think I'm gonna show 'em how to do it.
Texas is OK if you want to settle down and do your own thing quietly, but it's not for outrageous people, and I was always outrageous.
They asked me, How did you learn to sing the blues like that? How did you learn to sing that heavy? I just opened my mouth and that's what I sounded like. You can't make up something that you don't feel. I didn't make it up. I just opened my mouth and it existed.
You can't stay in your home town and play because the two people will get tired of seeing you.
I love being a star more than life itself.
At least we know we tend to be afraid. If you object to my plural noun, I'll retract it.
― Janis Joplin Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
