19 Frank Zappa Quotes That Are as True Now as They Were Then

Frank Zappa, an iconoclastic musical genius, carved a permanent place in the world of music and culture with his fearless innovation and dedication to free expression. Over a prolific career stretching from the 1950s to the 1990s, Zappa released an impressive 62 albums, each a testament to his boundary-breaking talent and eclectic vision.

In addition to his musical contributions, Zappa was a staunch defender of free speech, vocally opposing censorship in all its forms. His unwavering stance led him to testify before the U.S. Congress in 1985, where he ardently championed artistic freedom and questioned society’s restrictive norms.

1. On the mind

“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.”

2. On yellow snow

“Don’t eat the yellow snow.”

3. On politics

“Politics is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.”

4. On intelligence

“Modern Americans behave as if intelligence were some sort of hideous deformity.”

5. On the most important thing in life

“The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else’s life.”

6. On U.S. laws

“The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.”

7. On the building block of the universe

“Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.”

8. On beer

“You can’t be a real country unless you have beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”

9. On changing people’s minds

“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.”

10. On the end of the world

“It isn’t necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia.”

11. On music

“Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.”

12. On progress

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”

13. On art

“Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.”

14. On love songs

“There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we’d all love one another.”

15. On computers

“The computer can’t tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what’s missing is the eyebrows.”

16. On belief

“Everybody believes in something and everybody, by virtue of the fact that they believe in something, uses that something to support their own existence.”

17. On rock journalism

“Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.”

18. On writing the ugly chord

“You can’t always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.”

19. On music writing

“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”