In this world, many people become great influences on others who are mostly celebrities, artists, and singers. In the music industry, Jim Morrison was a rock music legend who was loved for his charisma as The Doors’ lead vocalist.
Who Is Jim Morrison?
James Douglas Morrison, or simply known as Jim Morrison, was known as a songwriter, poet, and singer in the United States. He was a rock band member called The Doors. He was born on the 8th of December of 1943 and died at the age of 27 in 1971.
Morrison had become popular because of his unique baritone voice, poetic lyrics, erratic, and unpredictable performances. He was known for his wild personality. Because of such uniqueness and talent, he was dubbed as one of the most influential and most iconic persons in the music industry.
He was well-renowned for his spoken word poetry passage improvising while his band performed live. He was also known for being intelligent and mysterious. Jim was inspired by the world’s greatest poets and philosophers.
What You Need to Know About Jim Morrison
Here are the top 10 facts you should know about Jim Morrison:
- Jim co-founded the band “The Doors” in California in 1965.
- He had recorded 6 audio albums with his band, all received critical acclaims, and even sold well.
- In the 1960s, he became alcohol-dependent, which affected his stage performances.
- At the age of 27, Morrison died unexpectedly, and it happened in Paris.
- There was no autopsy performed, making the cause of his death remained unknown.
- The best people who influenced him include Friedrich Nietzsche.
- Other formative influences of Jim included Arthur Rimbaud, a symbolist poet from France and Plutarch, who was known for Parallel Lives. Their styles had influenced the short prose poems of Morrison. There were also Allen Ginsberg, Franz Kafka, Jean Cocteau, William S. Burroughs, Albert Camus, and others who influenced him.
- The Volume I of The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison was entitled Wilderness, which was released in 1988. Then, it became the Bestseller of the New York Times instantly. The second volume entitled The American Night, was released in 1990 and it was also successful.
- He financed a project venture and had his production company for full control of this project known as the HWY: An American Pastoral.
- His early life had started in a semi-nomadic type of military families.
Quotes
1. “If you don’t control your mind, someone else will.”
You must take responsibility for your thoughts and actions. Otherwise, you will be easily affected by other people’s influences, and it can cause misdirection in your life.
2. “I like a man who wears his soul on his face.”
Jim Morrison says in this quote that he appreciates people who are true to themselves. Whatever kind of physical image they may be revealing, they are their thoughts and actions.
3. “The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.”
There is nothing better than being who you are when it comes to obtaining freedom. If you are always true to yourself, you can be happy and satisfied in all things.
4. “Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes.”
Face your greatest fear if you want to end your suffering in it. If you keep hiding, you will never get freedom. If you do so, then you become stronger.
5. “A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.”
You will know when you are with a good friend if you are never hesitant to show who you really are in front of them. And of course, they never judge you or try to change you based on their personal standards.
6. “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”
Life without music is no fun at all. The world needs it to help people widen their imaginations; bring out the emotions they need to.
7. “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”
The media must be a good influence on the world. However, it sometimes becomes the cause of problems in society that bring chaos. Those who try to rule over the media have a bad intention.
8. “I like people who shake other people up and make them feel uncomfortable.”
People who have a crab mentality certainly look so foolish in front of those who see the real situation. That in the end, they regret these things and suddenly realize that what they are doing is wrong.
9. “Listen, real poetry doesn’t say anything; it just ticks off the possibilities, opens all the doors. You can walk through any one that suits you.”
Find or build a career that gives peace to your heart well and something that you only want because of a certain invalid reason. Take a risk. Go and explore the opportunities waiting for you.
10. “We fear violence less than our own feelings. Personal, private, solitary pain is more terrifying than what anyone else can inflict.”
With these words, Morrison encourages everyone to face situations and people that they fear or feel uncomfortable with. Once they have learned to deal with the unknown, then they overcome fear.
11. “You feel your strength in the experience of pain.”
People may have different viewpoints when it comes to strength and pain. However, it is important to reflect during and after experiencing such pain. Then, it is only the time to discover the power of one’s mind and heart.
12. “One shouldn’t take life so seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.”
It says that you should learn to chill and laugh once in a while, even when things get tough. You need to take a risk and be fair in all things. You may not get a desirable outcome, but you will never lose in the first place.
13. “A man searching for paradise lost can seem a fool to those who never sought the other world.”
It is intended for those who are taking risks and have the tendency to suicide. Being a coward will only make them foolish.
14. “There are things known and things unknown, and in between are the doors…”
Jim Morrison gives an explanation regarding his band. At the same time, he wants to inspire more people to explore and be adventurous in life. One should not be afraid to try on new opportunities. They never know that this door will lead them to happiness.
15. “Break on through to the other side.”
This quote wants people to try being deviant with the aim of unleashing their creative potentials. Stuck in mediocrity, it is the status quo and going with the flow of other people’s perception that isolates them from doing what they want.
16. “Time to live, time to lie, time to laugh, and time to die. Take it easy baby. Take it as it comes.”
Morrison shares these words to the unspoken. People are scared of loneliness and death that they often how inevitable these things are. He encourages people to experience all emotions in life as these things make a human being human.
17. “People are strange when you’re a stranger.”
Nobody cares when you act differently in front of others. However, if they take one step closer to getting to know you, they become the people you treasure in your life.
18. “Some of the worst mistakes in my life were haircuts.”
In many circumstances, people end up stressed out and feeling so bad with very simple mistakes they have done. They often forget that others experience even more difficulties than they are. Learn to manage emotions and deal with problems calmly to prevent one from doing unpleasant things that they may regret in the end.
19. “People fear death even more than pain. It’s stranger that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah, I guess it is a friend.
Death is inevitable, and it is something that almost everybody fears in this world. However, they do not realize that life is even more hurtful as you have to go through a lot of challenges. What’s more, bothersome is that you do not know when it will be coming.
20. “Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we had shoulders smooth as ravens claws.”
In times of death, many people who have done grave things on earth can have good hearts. Sometimes, people wait for serious matters to come before they realize that they did harm to others. No need to wait for death, be humble, and do righteous deeds.
21. “The time to hesitate is through.”
You have been resisting yourself to doing what must be done. Now, you have a bunch of chances to move forward and do what you love and what is right.
22. “I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft…”
When you are on hard times, it is the perfect chance to get to know your friends better. It is the time when you decide who you should trust and treasure in your life’s journey.
23. “Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel.”
Focus on your goals while taking the long trip to your success. In the beginnings, it may be full of humps, but as you get to know the road you are taking, you become an expert traveler.
24. “If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it’s to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.”
In this line, Jim Morrison wants people to wake up and rise from prohibiting themselves from believing what they only see and feel. One must learn to sympathize and empathize to understand the reasons behind them.
25. “Nobody understands you better than yourself, but if someone tries to do it is because he loves you.”
After all, you only have yourself. The key is to love and trust yourself first. However, there may be a moment when someone will try to barge in your life and get to know you better. In some instances, let the person come in, and you will realize that it is love.
26. “Nobody would stay interested in me if I was normal.”
In this quote, Jim has become a person who has been known to be free in expressing his thoughts and personality. These words say that everybody is unique, which is the reason why they attract others, either as a friend, a lover, or even an enemy.
27. “Between childhood, boyhood, adolescence and manhood (maturity), there should be sharp lines drawn with tests, deaths, feats, rites, stories, songs, and judgments.”
As you grow up, you experience many emotions that can make you stronger. However, they do not last long, and they come with good times as well. They are all inevitable. You just have to manage every situation very well.
28. “I’ve noticed that when people are joking, they’re usually dead serious, and when they’re serious, they’re usually pretty funny.”
Sometimes, the irony about dealing with certain situations can be funny and frustrating at the same time. Many people tend to make fun of serious concerns while they are too serious when it is about taking things easy.
29. “Listen, real poetry doesn’t say anything; it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through anyone that suits you.”
If you are still looking for success in your career, you should take the initiative to move to the first step. There can be some opportunities knocking to your door and find your luck.
30. “I think the highest and lowest points are the important ones. Anything else is just… in between.”
Jim Morrison wants you to forget about the unnecessary matters you focus on life. The most important ones are the part when to get started and how you get the best results.
31. “No one here gets out alive.”
In the end, all of us will die and soon leave our loved ones. So, we must learn to keep our feet on the ground. Be good persons and do good deeds.
Jim Morrison Love Quotes
32. “…People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel?…”
When you fall in love, it does not mean bliss all the time. You have to go through ups and downs, which can be very risky at many times. All you need is to face your fear and take the risk if you think it will be for a mutual benefit.
33. “It may have been in pieces, but I gave you the best of me.”
Morrison says that even if he is in pain and struggle, he has given his whole heart to his beloved. Being in pain does not mean that one cannot love his heart and soul.
34. “There are no laws, there are no rules, just grab your friend and love him.”
You do not have to find a reason to make friends and spread the love with others. All you need is to empathize and realize the personal differences between people and their own reasons in life.
35. “Love cannot save you from your own fate.”
Love moves in mysterious ways. You do not know how far it can take you. However, you have a choice of how love will affect you and your fate.
36. “I am troubled, immeasurably by your eyes.”
By just looking in the eyes, someone else can be moved. In these words spoken by Jim Morrison, the eyes serve as the mirror of a person’s inner personality. They can make a difference when another person gets to see what hides in it.
37. “I found an island in your arms and country in your eyes.”
Love is a beautiful thing that makes a person sees beyond the physical aspects. The eyes reflect the soul of a person, and only somebody can just see that.
Final Thoughts
These thoughts to ponder by Jim Morrison talk about living a good life by facing your fear and being true to yourself. They inspire people, especially his fans, to achieve freedom and be the best person they can be. Hopefully, this compilation of his best quotes can make you think about how you can get started making great changes in your life.
