I. Frost's Selected Quotations

Everything at Amazon by and about: Laurie Anderson

When love is gone, there's always justice.
And when justice is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom.
Hi, Mom!

I grew up in a little town outside Chicago. I came to New York because of live TV. It was the '50s and we'd be watching TV and everything seemed to come from New York. The newscaster would say: "This is the news at 7 o'clock" and you'd look at the clock and it was only 6 o'clock. I'd say "I'm going to New York because it's darker, it's later, it's more exciting. They seem to know something that we all don't."

You know what I really like about cyberspace? The rumors. Such as the recent so-called fact that the Vatican had been bought out by Microsoft.... One world, one operating system!

I was never terrified of death. I was lucky to see how beautiful it is. The whole time I thought, this is so fabulous. This is such an incredibly beautiful, freeing, fabulous thing to be able to see.

When the going gets tough, its the tough who make it that way.

There is something gorgeous about destruction, and liberating too. Unless you're the one being destroyed.

Well I was out in my four door with the top down.
And I looked up and there they were:
Millions of tiny teardrops
Just sort of hanging there
And I didn't know whether to laugh or cry
And I said to myself:
What next, big sky?

'. . . I wrote a letter to Thomas Pynchon asking, Can I have your permission to try to make an [adaptation] of your book? And I had no idea that he would answer me, because he's pretty elusive. But he did send a letter back that said, Yes, you can do that -- as long as the only instrument in the opera is a banjo. I thought, That's an interesting way of saying No.'

In 1980, I wrote a song for William Burroughs called 'Language Is a Virus.' This was quote from one of Burroughs' books. It's a strange thing for a writer to say that language is a disease communicable by mouth. It's also a very Buddhist thing to say. I mean, in Buddhist thought there's the thing and there's the name for the thing and that's one thing too many. Because sometimes when you say a word, you think that you actually understand it. In fact, all you're doing is saying it, you don't necessarily understand it at all. So language, well, it's a kind of trick.

My father died, and it was as if a library had burned down.

"Computers are so deeply stupid. What bother me most when they talk about technology is they don't realize how much more exciting their minds are. That machine is stupid. And boring. It does just a few things and then it'll crash. People think, 'I am on the Net, I am in touch with the world'. Wrong! The point is how we work, not how machines work."

There are ten million stories in the Naked City.
But no one can remember which one is theirs.

"Then I read (Moby Dick) it again. And it was a complete revelation. Encyclopedic in scope, the book moved through ideas about history, philosophy, science, religion and the natural world towards Melville's complex and dark conclusions about the meaning of life, fear and obsession. Being a somewhat dark person myself, I fell in love with the idea that the mysterious thing you look for your whole life will eventually eat you alive."

Good evening. This is your Captain. We are about to attempt a crash landing. Please extinuish all cigarettes. Place your tray tables in their upright, locked position. Your Captain says: Put your head on your knees. Your Captain says: Put your head on your hands. Captain says: Put your hands on your head. Put your hands on your hips. Heh heh. This is your Captain-and we are going down. We are all going down, together.
And I said: Uh oh. This is gonna be some day.

he was an ugly guy/ with an ugly face/ an
also-ran/ in the human race/ and even god got sad/ just
looking at him/ and at his funeral/ all of his friends
stood around/ looking sad/ but they were really
thinking/ about all of the ham and cheese sandwiches/ in
the next room.

"Computers are so deeply stupid. What bother me most when they talk about technology is they don't realize how much more exciting their minds are. That machine is stupid. And boring. It does just a few things and then it'll crash. People think, 'I am on the Net, I am in touch with the world'. Wrong! The point is how we work, not how machines work."


I no longer love your mouth. I no longer love your eyes. I no longer love your eyes. I no longer love the color of your sweaters. I no longer love it. I no longer love the color of your sweaters. I no longer love the way you hold your pans and pencils. I no longer love it. Your mouth. Your eyes. The way you hold your pens and pencils. I no longer love it. I no longer love it.

I wanted you. And I was looking for you. But I couldn't find you. I wanted you. And I was looking for you all day. But I couldn't find you. I couldn't find you. You're walking. And you don't always realize it, but you're always falling. With each step you fall forward slightly. And then catch yourself from falling. Over and over, you're falling. And then catching yourself from falling. And this is how you can be walking and falling at the same time.

Daddy Daddy, it was just like you said Now that the living outnumber the dead. Where I come from it's a long thin thread Across an ocean. Down a river of red. Now that the living outnumber the dead. Speak my language. Hello. Hello. Here come the quick. There go the dead. Here they come. Bright red. Speak my language.

Technology today is the campfire around which we tell our stories.

Writing a good short song is extremely hard, so I have great admiration for anyone who does that. But then again I like every kind of music. No, that's not true - I hate Broadway shows. I mean I really hate them

It was a large room. Full of people. All kinds. And they had all arrived at the same buidling at more or less the same time. And they were all free. And they were all asking themselves the same question: What is behind that curtain? You were born. And so you're free. So happy birthday.

Web is pretty anti-social. I like live things. I like to be in groups of actual people, as opposed to their clones or their avatars or whoever they send out on the web to represent themselves.

I tried to learn to fail. I tried to think that was not a bad thing because when I was watching people, their best stuff had to do with failure.

Interactive to me means reading something that changes my life, not just pushing buttons.

was never terrified of death. I was lucky to see how beautiful it is. The whole time I thought, his is so fabulous. This is such an incredibly beautiful, freeing, fabulous thing to be able to see.

Paradise is exactly like where you are right now... only much, much better.

Interactive to me means reading something that changes my life, not just pushing buttons.

Daddy Daddy, it was just like you said Now that the living outnumber the dead. Where I come from it's a long thin thread Across an ocean. Down a river of red. Now that the living outnumber the dead. Speak my language. Hello. Hello. Here come the quick. There go the dead. Here they come. Bright red. Speak my language.

In our country, Goodbye looks just like Hello.

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

In our sleep as we speak Listen to the drums beat As we speak In our sleep as we speak Listen to the drums beat In our sleep In our sleep as we speak Listen to the drums beat As we speak As we speak in our sleep Listen to the drums beat in our sleep In our sleep as we speak Listen to the drums beat As we speak In our sleep as we speak Listen to the drums beat In our sleep In our sleep where we meet In our sleep where we meet