The Best 17 Eddie Vedder Quotes

Eddie Vedder, as everyone knows, is the frontman for the legendary rock band Pearl Jam. He has a voice like melted gold run over cobblestones.

Vedder, who recently released his new solo album, Earthling, is also one of the most outspoken singers in popular music. He’s taken the torn of others like U2’s Bono and continues to speak out about injustices. But it’s not just socio-political conversations that Vedder holds.

He is as philosophical as any.

So why not dive in and investigate (and collect!) a series of quotes from the thoughtful singer? That’s exactly what we did.

Without further ado, here are the Top 17 Eddie Vedder Quotes.

1. “The best revenge is to live on and prove yourself.”

2. “It’s an art to live with pain… mix the light into gray.”

3. “I think music is the greatest art form that exists, and I think people listen to music for different reasons, and it serves different purposes. Some of it is background music, and some of it is things that might affect a person’s day, if not their life, or change an attitude. The best songs are the ones that make you feel something.”

4. “Life moves fast. As much as you can learn from your history, you have to move forward.”

5. “No matter how good you are, at some point your kids are gonna have to create their own independence and think that Mom and Dad aren’t cool, just to establish themselves. That’s what adolescence is about. They’re gonna go through that no matter what.”

6. “The way we’re attached to our phones these days, they buzz and twitch in our pockets, and we have to look and see if it was a text, a voicemail, or an e-mail. We’re almost like lab rats. I tried to eschew the whole cell phone theory until I had kids; then, I had to be reachable at all times.”

7. “I’ve never been a calm, midrange type person.”

8. “You can’t be perfect. You can’t be the perfect father. You can’t be the perfect singer.”

9. “Pretty much at all times music motivates me. How can I say this without sounding in any way proud of myself? Obviously, I’ve always written songs that are critical of our government, and talk about our times. Hopefully, you attempt to be timeless while doing it.”

10. “I was around nine when a babysitter snuck ‘Who’s Next’ onto the turntable. The parents were gone. The windows shook. The shelves were rattling. Rock & roll. That began an exploration into music that had soul, rebellion, aggression, affection.”

11. “I think the hardest thing about making music now is being a great dad at the same time. There’s an insanity that goes with writing—a mad scientist thing that you have to go through—and sacrificing a kid’s upbringing to do that is not an option.”

12. “That’s part of the curse: If you’re gonna play the song, you better play it. I’ve tried to phone in ‘Jeremy’ a few times, and it’s tough. It doesn’t work.”

13. “There’s been times when I’ve been standing in a line at a movie and someone’s hit me with something really heavy about someone really close and how our music has helped them get through it. Even in our darkest moments we try and find something beautiful.”

14. “You know, rock stardom… I have a hard time discussing that because I don’t really accept it. It’s not really that tangible. What’s really bizarre is how it’s used as a thing—you know, ‘He’s the rock star of politics,’ ‘He’s the rock star of quarterbacks’—like it’s the greatest thing in the world.

15. “I don’t need drugs to make my life tragic.”

16. “There’s a finite amount of time on this planet for each of us. Sometimes, the only way we figure out how to deal with that reality—knowing that there will be an end to every story, and you don’t know how many chapters are left in your book—is by living in denial.”

17. “Any conversations we hear about ‘So who are Pearl Jam marketing to?’ are despicable.”

Photo courtesy Republic Media Records