Right now, I'm at the top of the world in my game so my focus isn't on when I'm going to end. My focus is on playing the best tennis that I can, and there is no end to that.
Everybody has a high point and a lot goes into that: timing, situation, general consciousness.
I was tired. I peaked. I left when I was on top. One year, I did 280 concerts.
My best year was probably 1948, and after that, it's been downhill for me.
The best part is coming." "What's the best part? You swallowing an entire cow whole?" "No. That's the finale.
And then, just when you think that you have experienced all the wonders that this world has to offer, you round a peak and suddenly think you're doing the whole thing over again, but this time on drugs.
I don't want to play forever. I want to give everything I can now and then walk away knowing I gave everything. The example I think of is Barry Sanders. He was such a great player, and he left when he was still on top. I want that to be me.
I think sometime during the peak of 'Whiskey Glasses' is when I realized: 'Man, this is really starting to happen. People are not not just singing these singles, they're singing every song on my album and really invested in what I'm doing.'
When you were riding on the crest of a wave, youwere most likely to be missing out on something.
If eternity had a season, it would be midsummer. Autumn, winter, spring are all change and passage, but at the height of summer the year stands poised. It's only a passing moment, but even as it passes the heart knows it cannot change.
Noon - is the Hinge of Day-.
When you're doing things like Glastonbury main stage, and there's 80,000 people and your hits are going off, it's at those moments you sit back and breathe and take it in, man, cos it might never happen again.
It's always difficult to say if anyone is in the best form of their career.
I always prefer to end a show where you're feeling creatively on top.
I love standing up behind the blocks, and I love that moment just before you dive in and it goes quiet, and you take a deep breath and you just dive, and then you try and win, but that moment just before I go, that's why I race.
It really lasted the whole game, because I was really untouchable, unstoppable that game. But it was heightened on one particular play, and that was the longest run where everything completely slowed down. My awareness was so keen, it was so heightened, it was really amazing.
Let me tell you - when I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble. You don't think about breaking records anymore, you don't think about gaining scientific data - the only thing that you want is to come back alive.
Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.
To have three movies coming out at the same time - I probably will never have that again in my life.
When you're the most happening person at the party, it's time to leave
I have never heard anyone say This is it. I know right now is the high point of my life. It will never get any better. Only in retrospect do we recognize the best times and of course then it is too late.
I wonder if, as the tech to deliver content continues to evolve, we will start seeing the one season / 6-8 hour show that ends at a peak moment rather than is cancelled because it sucks.
My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July.
The high of a great set is better than anything.
