20 Bruce Springsteen Quotes That Are as True Now as They Were Then

Bruce Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949. Springsteen is a legendary American rock singer, songwriter and guitarist. Springsteen was nicknamed “the Boss”, and he has released 21 studio albums throughout a fruitful career that has lasted over six decades. Springsteen operated at the forefront of helping create what we know as heartland rock today. It was through melding together sounds from commercially successful rock with the poetic sentiments that rang true throughout working class American life, that Springsteen accomplished this. We’ll take a look at some of Bruce Springsteen’s most infamous quotes from throughout his career.

1. On luck

“When it comes to luck, you make your own.”

2. On the space between American reality and the American dream

“I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream.”

3. On the value of a good song

“A good song takes on more meaning as the years pass by.”

4. On being uncomfortable in your own skin

“It’s a sad man my friend who’s livin’ in his own skin and can’t stand the company.”

5. On the power of great music

“The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.”

6. On his connection to rock music

“Until I realized that rock music was my connection to the rest of the human race, I felt like I was dying, for some reason, and I didn’t know why.”

7. On a long working life

“From the beginning, I imagined I would have a long work life.”

8. On tolerance and acceptance

“Certainly tolerance and acceptance were at the forefront of my music.”

9. On being at peace in the present moment

“Somebody who can reckon with the past, who can live with the past in the present, and move towards the future, that’s fabulous.

10. On the power of the audience

“On any given night, what allows me to get to that higher ground is the audience.”

11. On the early Beatle records

“If you listen to the great Beatle records, the earliest ones where the lyrics are incredibly simple. Why are they still beautiful? Well, they’re beautifully sung, beautifully played, and the mathematics in them is elegant. They retain their elegance.”

12. On some of the greatest blues music

“Some of the greatest blues music is some of the darkest music you’ve ever heard.”

13. On an artist’s obsessions

“Every good writer or filmmaker has something eating at them, right? That they can’t quite get off their back . And so your job is to make your audience care about your obsessions.”

14. On self expression

“I have my ideas, I have my music and I also just enjoy showing off, so that’s a big part of it. Also, I like to get up onstage and behave insanely or express myself physically, and the band can get pretty silly.”

15. On being funny onstage

“I’ve had an experience through music that has touched almost every part of me. It educated me in ways that I didn’t get educated in school. So we try to lay on a bit of that, through being funny, being serious, playing hard.”

16. On college

“I had tried to go to college, and I didn’t really fit in. I went to a real narrow-minded school where people gave me a lot of trouble, and I was hounded off the campus, I just looked different and acted different, so I left school.”

17. On connecting with the audience

“You make your music, then you try to find whatever audience is out there for it.”

18. On the purpose of film, art, and music

“I think that is what film and art and music do; they can work as a map of sorts for your feelings.”

19. On his upbringing

“I grew up with a very big extended family, with a lot of aunts. We had about five or six houses on one street.”

20. On sustaining an audience

“Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.”