Tom Waits Quotes

Man the lifeboats. The idiots are winning.

When the ship is going down we trouble ourselves little enough about the style of the cabin furniture.

The longer I live, the more I feel that the individual is not so much to blame - not even the worst individuals, not even the 'best' citizens - as the system of corruption which has grown up about us, and which rewards an honest man with a mere living and a crook with all the magnificence of our magnificent modern life.

It's especially important since September 11 for people to be trained for the unexpected. We want to try to make sure people are safe.

The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.

I advise keeping four feet on the floor and all hands on deck.

City government can and must help San Franciscans prepare for emergencies in order to avoid tragedy where possible and minimize loss of life and property when emergencies occur.

The safety of the people is the first and foremost responsibility of government… We are not as prepared as we should be with our public safety network…. The margin for error is exceedingly and uniquely low.

Income inequality and government corruption are both unfortunate realities in the United States.

India lived in hopelessness, as the government was not responsive. It did not know what the poor needed. There was complete policy paralysis. Corruption was rampant, and terrorists used to play havoc in the country.

We need to act and act now to get people out of harm's way.

The commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts.

Government Steals from the needy and gives to the greedy

I'm planning a catastrophe.

The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered within the Tao. When rich speculators prosper While farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn- all this is robbery and chaos. It is not in keeping with the Tao.

In the theater of confusion, knowing the location of the exits is what counts.

I think Katrina is one more indication of how inefficient and corrupt this Administration is, and indicates the absolute lack of seriousness that [George W.] Bush has in making the government respond to the needs of the people. They are so separated from the lives of normal, low-income people that it never occurred to them that if you're poor and have no money, no car, that you can't leave.

One of the things is that in times of severe disorder, you can't worry about the dead, only the living.

There is so much chaos and dysfunction going on with the federal government that Dallas can't wait any longer for federal help.

First there is the search and rescue phase that is now ending. It is a cruel reality.

And I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as president.

Instead, we have found ourselves gasping for air in a sea of corruption, dysfunction, environmental degradation, waste, disenchantment and inequality—and the harder we compete, the more unequal we become.

When a leader encourages the culture of impunity, the society is lost and it makes the work harder for the rest of us.

A government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.

The choking, sweltering, deadly, and killing rule of no rule; the consecration of cupidity and braying of folly, and dim stupidity and baseness, in most of the affairs of men. Slopshirts attainable three-halfpence cheaper by the ruin of living bodies and immortal souls.