Nick Drake > Quotes

“The future says:

Dear mortals;
I know you are busy with your colourful lives;
I have no wish to waste the little time that remains
On arguments and heated debates;
But before I can appear
Please, close your eyes, sit still
And listen carefully
To what I am about to say;
I haven't happened yet, but I will.
I can't pretend it's going to be
Business as usual.
Things are going to change.
I'm going to be unrecognisable.
Please, don't open your eyes, not yet.
I'm not trying to frighten you.
All I ask is that you think of me
Not as a wish or a nightmare, but as a story
You have to tell yourselves -
Not with an ending
In which everyone lives happily ever after,
Or a B-movie apocalypse,
But maybe starting with the line
'To be continued...'
And see what happens next.
Remember this; I am not
Written in stone
But in time -
So please don't shrug and say
What can we do?
It's too late, etc, etc, etc.
Dear mortals,
You are such strange creatures
With your greed and your kindness,
And your hearts like broken toys;
You carry fear with you everywhere
Like a tiny god
In its box of shadows.
You love festivals and music
And good food.
You lie to yourselves
Because you're afraid of the dark.
But the truth is: you are in my hands
And I am in yours.
We are in this together,
Face to face and eye to eye;
We're made for each other.
Now those of you who are still here;
Open your eyes and tell me what you see.”
― Nick Drake

“And I am ashamed to write here that I felt more alive than ever, even though my heart was broken glass in my chest.”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead

“The purpose of collecting so much information can only be power.”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead

“What will happen in the morning when the world it gets so crowded that you can't look out your window in the morning?
And what will happen in the evening in the forest with the weasel with the teeth that bite so sharp when you're not looking in the evening?
And all the friends that you once knew are left behind they kept you safe and so secure
amongst the books and all the records of your lifetime?
What will happen? In the morning? When the world gets so crowded that you can't look out your window in the morning?”
― Nick Drake, Remembered for a While

“I arrive at the wooden door. I offer a prayer to the little god in his niche who knows I don’t believe in him, then push the door open.The courtyard is swept and tidy, the olive tree stands silver and green. I listen to the silence.”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead

“I was born to sail away, into a land of forever, not to be tied to an old stone grave, in your land of never.”
― Nick Drake

“I am wary of the words ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. We use them far too easily to judge things which we have no competence to judge. And I could not say that the things I have seen here in Akhetaten are right. People are people: avaricious, ambitious, strutting, careless. That doesn’t change.”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead

“And the movement in your brain
Sends you out into the rain”
― Nick Drake

“Who can know
The thoughts of Mary Jane
Why she flies
Or goes out in the rain
Where she's been
And who she's seen
In her journey to the stars
Who can know
The reason for her smile
What are her dreams
When they've journeyed for a mile
The way she sings
And her brightly colured rings
Make her princess of the sky
Who can know
What happens in her mind
Did she come
From a strange world
And leave her mind behind
Her long lost sighs
And her brightly coloured eyes
Tell her story to the wind
Who can know
The thoughts of Mary Jane
Why she flies
Or goes out in the rain
Where she's been
And who she's seen
In her journey to the stars”
― Nick Drake

“Do you like what you're doing/would you do it some more/or will you stop once and wonder what you're doing it for?”
― Nick Drake

“I, Rahotep, youngest chief detective of the Thebes Medjay division,”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: A Rahotep Mystery

“If songs were lines in a conversation, the situation would be fine.”
― Nick Drake

“Time has told me
Your're a rare, rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind”
― Nick Drake

“I woke early like a condemned man to the naivety of birdsong.”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: A Mystery

“heads held up above the waterline. He left me on the far side. Suddenly the simple quietness of the world returned to me: a few birds, some children playing at the water’s edge, the occasional calls of women working in the fields. No other boats were approaching or landing here. The sun, slowly descending towards the western cliffs, guided me towards the general area where the fort lay. I set off between the fields of emmer and barley. How immaculate they were, tended to perfection over all time as if the fields themselves were worshipped gods. At one point a group of men riding donkeys appeared ahead of me, but we nodded and continued without attending much to one another. The track between the fields”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: A Rahotep Mystery

“And he who owns the water, owns the city - indeed owns life itself. But no-one in truth owns the river. It is greater, more enduring and more powerful than any of us, almost more than any god. It can tear us apart with its force or starve us by withholding its yearly inundation. It is full of death. It carries corpses of beast and men and children whose dwelling time in its depths has shocked them green. …And yet it sustains our rich black earth from which spring our green crops, our barley and wheat.”
― Nick Drake, Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead

“I was born to sail away
Into a land of forever
Not to be tied to an old stone grave
In your land of never.”
― nick drake

“You can take a road that gets you to the stars, I can take a road that will see me through.”
― Nick Drake

“I Was Made To Love Magic"

I was born to love no one
No one to love me
Only the wind in the long green grass
The frost in a broken tree.

I was made to love magic
All its wonder to know
But you all lost that magic
Many many years ago.

I was born to use my eyes
Dream with the sun and the skies
To float away in a lifelong song
In the mist where melody flies.

I was made to love magic...

I was born to sail away
Into a land of forever
Not to be tied to an old stone grave
In your land of never.

I was made to love magic...”
― Nick Drake

“Why leave me hanging on a star
When you deem me so high
When you deem me so high
When you deem me so high

And why leave me sailing in a sea
When you hear me so clear
When you hear me so clear
When you hear me so clear

And why leave me hanging on a star
When you deem me so high
When you deem me so high
When you deem me so high”
― Nick Drake