Sam Shepard Quotes

“When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say."

"Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise."

"What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?"

"You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another."

In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids

“We didn’t have to talk then, and that is real friendship. Never uncomfortable with silence, which, in its welcome form, is yet an extension of conversation.”
― Patti Smith

“I've been off drugs and booze since I almost killed myself on speed two weeks ago. But my gratitude for being alive can't last for ever.”
― Johnny Dark, 2 Prospectors: The Letters of Sam Shepard & Johnny Dark