50 Frank Zappa Quotes from One of the Greatest Musicians in History

Frank Zappa quotes to remind you of a great artist.

Frank Zappa was born in 1940 and died a too-early death in 1993. In between, Frank Zappa became known as one of the greatest musicians of all time.

He was a singer-songwriter, composer, and he played multiple instruments. A self-taught composer and performer, Frank Zappa worked hard to get where he was and his beliefs backed his life.

Frank Zappa believed in capitalism, entrepreneurship, and small government. He was a self-made man who was driven enough to make it for himself and to help some others make it as well.

Don’t forget to also check out these Ludwig van Beethoven quotes from the greatest composer of all time.

Frank Zappa quotes about art

1. “Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.” – Frank Zappa

2. “The most important thing in art is The Frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively – because without this humble appliance, you can’t know where The Art stops and The Real World begins.” – Frank Zappa

3. “If classical music is the state of the art, then the arts are in a sad state.” – Frank Zappa

4. “Tosses her head and flips her hair, she got a whole bunch of nothing in there.” – Frank Zappa

5. “Her head is full of bubbles, her nose is petite, she looks like she never gets nothing to eat.” – Frank Zappa

6. “Music is the most physically inspiring of all the arts.” – Frank Zappa

7. “The manner in which Americans ”consume” music has a lot to do with leaving it on their coffee tables or using it as wallpaper for their lifestyles, like the score of a movie –it’s consumed that way without any regard for how and why it’s made.” – Frank Zappa

8. “Science is moving closer to weaponry, and Art is moving closer to commercialism. And never the twain shall meet.” – Frank Zappa

9. “Believe it or not, there are places in the world where music is important. There are places in the world where all the arts are a matter of national pride.” – Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa quotes about music

10. “Music is the only religion that delivers the goods.” – Frank Zappa

11. “The creation and destruction of harmonic and ‘statistical’ tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and ‘regular’ throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only ‘good guys’ in it, or eating cottage cheese.” – Frank Zappa

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

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

14. “Most people wouldn’t know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.” – Frank Zappa

15. “Jazz isn’t dead. It just smells funny.” – Frank Zappa

16. “All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.” – Frank Zappa

17. “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” – Frank Zappa

18. “A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.” – Frank Zappa

19. “The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse.” – Frank Zappa

20. “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.” – Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa quotes about life and education

21. “So many books, so little time.” – Frank Zappa

22. “If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.” – Frank Zappa

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

24. “There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.” – Frank Zappa

25. “Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you’ve got any guts. Some of you like Pep rallies and plastic robots who tell you what to read.” – Frank Zappa

26. “It’s better to have something to remember than anything to regret.” – Frank Zappa

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

28. “Stupidity has a certain charm – ignorance does not.” – Frank Zappa

29. “Books are good for lots of uses, not for dropping in the toilet.” – Frank Zappa

30. “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.” – Frank Zappa

31. “The more you can escape from how horrible things really are, the less it’s going to bother you…and then, the worse things get.” – Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa quotes about love and friendship

32. “I searched for years I found no love. I’m sure that love will never be a product of plasticity.” – Frank Zappa

33. “Most people don’t bother about their friends in the vegetable kingdom.” – Frank Zappa

34. “Love lyrics have contributed to the general aura of bad mental health in America.” – Frank Zappa

35. “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.” – Frank Zappa

36. “If you can’t deal with your husband or wife as a friend, you probably won’t enjoy living together.” – Frank Zappa

37. “I think a marriage without friendship is pretty boring.” – Frank Zappa

38. “I would say that today, dishonesty is the rule, and honesty the exception. It could be, statistically, that more people are honest than dishonest, but the few that really control things are not honest, and that tips the balance.” – Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa quotes about society and politics

39. “Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.” – Frank Zappa

40. “Communism doesn’t work because people like to own stuff.” – Frank Zappa

41. “You can’t be a real country unless you have a 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.” – Frank Zappa

42. “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” – Frank Zappa

43. “Power will be maintained by the groovy guy or gal who gets the most media coverage for his sleaze.” – Frank Zappa

44. “Republican is fine if you’re a millionaire. Democrat is fair if all you own is what you wear. Neither of them’s really right, cause neither of them care.” – Frank Zappa

45. “Environmental laws were not passed to protect our air and water, they were passed to get votes.” – Frank Zappa

46. “There’s a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.” – Frank Zappa

47. “A wise man once said, never discuss philosophy or politics in a disco environment.” – Frank Zappa

48. “It would be easier to pay off the national debt overnight than to neutralize the long-range effects of our national stupidity.” – Frank Zappa

49. “All your children are poor unfortunate victims of systems beyond their control.” – Frank Zappa

50. “The universe consists of 5% protons, 5% neutrons, 5% electrons and 85% morons.” – Frank Zappa

What did you learn from these Frank Zappa quotes?

As you can see from the quotes, Frank Zappa was a philosopher in his own way. He made it as a musician and he traveled the world playing music. The things he saw and experienced shaped his world view.

He was a man who did not like to be governed and felt that others should not as well. He was a tobacco user and hated the anti-tobacco messages. Although not a drug user, he did not like the government making them illegal and felt that everyone should make their own choices.

To learn more about one of America’s most eclectic and gifted rock and roller’s, check out Frank Zappa’s solo work or his work with his most known band, “The Mothers of Invention”.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these Frank Zappa quotes and sayings? Do you have any other favorite quotes to add? Let us know in the comment section below.

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