Donovan Quotes

Donovan

Profession : Musician

Birth : May 10, 1946

Bohemia isn't somewhere an artist runs to escape society. It's a place where like-minded artists gather to plot the downfall of dogma and ignorance.

Donovan

Yogis have human emotions, but the thing is not to let anger and doubt become an obsession.

Donovan

Sometimes the songs just come to me. I don't sit down to write like you'd sit down to make a pair of boots.

Donovan

I've been vegetarian for many years and only eat fish if I have to.

Donovan

'Superman' had nothing to do with the superhero or physical power. It's a reference to the book 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra,' by Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote about the evolution of consciousness to reach a higher superman state.

Donovan

The 'Bohemian Manifesto' represents those that actually have to step out of society because they cannot join, but then they become the saviors of society because they create the actual possibilities of change.

Donovan

I can't save the world, but if I can share some ideas, people might be able to save themselves.

Donovan

The poet is the voice of the people. And when the poet presents certain ideas, two phrases in one poem can alter a generation's view. So poets have always been feared - and controlled and jailed.

Donovan

The idea of the mystic solo, meditating away on his own, is only one path of yoga. Very early on, I chose the path of Life. One path is austerity and isolation, the other is Life. But they both lead to the same place.

Donovan

The way I sing my songs leads the listener into a place of introspection, a state of mind that can trigger self-healing and the kind of profound rest you cannot get from sleep alone.

Donovan

Celebrities can suffer a horrible loneliness even though they have millions of fans. I started doing meditations because I realized that a spiritual path was necessary.

Donovan

In the 1960s, I was convinced that the world was extremely mentally ill.

Donovan

'Sunshine Superman' was a pioneering work that for the first time presented a fusion of Celtic, jazz, folk, rock, and Indian music as well as poetry.

Donovan

I was making the music and writing the songs which reflected the emerging consciousness of my generation.

Donovan

If you have a loved one, you can survive anything.

Donovan

Linda's in all the songs. 'Sunshine Superman,' 'Hampstead Incident,' 'Young Girl Blues'... Linda's the muse.

Donovan

All of us '60s pop stars came from old cities which had a jazz club, a folk club, a coffee house, and an art school.

Donovan

I have always just experimented, and I come from a very ancient, acoustic root. It was very hard to put a finger on me.

Donovan

The human race is ill because we have no contact with the lowest level of consciousness.

Donovan

What I needed and actually need is a discipline of tradition, which is lacking in our civilization. Discipline of tradition and the ceremony of humbleness.

Donovan