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" Whether you reach a lot of people or have a profound impact on a few people, their memories of you are your afterlife. "
Greg Graffin
Memories
Reach
You
Related Quotes:
" I think English punk died in '79 or '80. Maybe '82 at the latest. As far as American punk goes, it wasn't the same as English punk. It wasn't a working-class movement that was protesting the conditions under which this class had to work. I don't think American punk ever died. "
Greg Graffin
Movement
American
Think
" I've written almost 200 songs with Bad Religion. No matter where you look in our history, the focus has been trying to instill some of these disturbing realities about the world, some of the implications of evolution into an artistic format that can be interpreted by people who may never study evolution. "
Greg Graffin
History
Focus
People
" I have great hope and faith, but it's a humanistic faith based in facts; you have to believe that facts exist. We can all arrive at the same facts if we engage in the process of experimentation, observation, and verification, which can solve more of the world's major problems than a debate over whether God does or doesn't exist. "
Greg Graffin
Problems
Faith
God
" My science teachers always encouraged their classes to 'go out and discover something' because all scientific endeavors depend on observation and experimentation. Through such pursuits, anyone can find something new to science, and if it's truly novel, the entire edifice of science might have to be restructured. "
Greg Graffin
Find
Depend
Always
" I definitely was attracted to similar things in punk and science. They both depend on a healthy dose of skepticism. "
Greg Graffin
Science
Punk
Healthy
" It's not a random chance that we have Alanis Morissette. She didn't evolve out of a null and void. She came from a former template. She borrowed styles and sounds from a very limited set of other artists. "
Greg Graffin
Void
Chance
Evolve
" I grew up playing football since the day I could walk; some of my greatest memories of childhood are playing touch football in all kinds of weather with my best friends. That's a part of the American experience that no corporation can destroy. "
Greg Graffin
Memories
Football
Day
" Let's face it: There are people who are extremists in every corner of society, and whatever flag they're waving is something Bad Religion has stood against. "
Greg Graffin
Face
Flag
People
" In the 1970s, we had Carl Sagan, and he was so suave with his turtleneck and his tweed jacket. And he was, you know, he made science look cool. And in punk rock, we haven't had that. We haven't had the Carl Sagan of punk. "
Greg Graffin
Know
Cool
You
" If you can believe in God, then you can believe in anything. It's a gang mentality. "
Greg Graffin
Then
God
Gang
" I don't bill myself as an atheist but as a naturalist. Naturalism is a belief system. A lot of scientists bristle at that. We all have to believe we can find the truth. Evidence is my guide. I rely on observation, experimentation and verification. "
Greg Graffin
Find
Believe
Belief
" There are so many ways to characterize evolutionary success. If one criterion is the number of millions of years that the species persists, we're still just infants. We're way too young of a species to tell if we were a creative fluke or if we have any staying power. "
Greg Graffin
Creative
Power
Success
" You can't let your personal disposition be dictated by the world around you. "
Greg Graffin
You
Around
Personal
" You can look at Bad Religion, and, really, almost everything I've ever done was an exercise in creativity. I've always had a desire to challenge and question authority, and that's where the fire inside comes from. I challenged authority out of a desire to make things better, not to be nihilistic about it. "
Greg Graffin
Fire
Religion
Challenge
" I'm saying that there were many great naturalists before Darwin's time who were very pious people and who knew more about nature than most of us. These were great naturalists; people I would admire for their knowledge of natural science given the time. "
Greg Graffin
Nature
Knowledge
Great
" I would say there's a lot of similarity between folk and punk. It's written for the common man. "
Greg Graffin
Common Man
Folk
Man
" The thread of culture that runs through the entire history of punk is also a dedication to challenging the authoritarian. "
Greg Graffin
Culture
Dedication
History
" Academic scientists aren't generally interested in books for the public. So when one comes out, the authors can't expect much praise from scientists. My goal both as a singer and an instructor is to educate through provocation and entertainment. "
Greg Graffin
Entertainment
Praise
Out
" Ideologically, the pursuit of science is not that different from the ideology that goes into punk rock. The idea of challenging authority is consistent with what I have been taught as a scientist. "
Greg Graffin
Science
Rock
Punk
" A fossil is so powerful. It's moving. This is my ancestor. The naturalist is moved by the fossil... not the cross. "
Greg Graffin
Naturalist
Cross
Powerful
" Bad Religion's tradition has always been to try and provoke people but hopefully lead them to a better sense of who they are and what they stand for. That's supposed to make them feel better. "
Greg Graffin
Stand
Religion
People
" I'm trying to champion the naturalist's worldview and show it's not as heathen as most religious people would make it out to be. "
Greg Graffin
Most
Trying
Show
" Folk music usually has an emphasis on the lyrics and melody. And those lyrics are usually relevant in some way. And it's populist in scope, which is also true of Bad Religion. So it's more meant to draw some parallels between the two. And I think even my voice and my delivery can be thought of as a little bit folky. "
Greg Graffin
Music
Voice
Think
" The trick is: how do you talk about natural selection without implying the rigidity of law? We use it as almost an active participant, almost like a god. In fact, you could substitute the word 'god' for 'natural selection' in a lot of evolutionary writings and you'd think you were listening to a theologian. "
Greg Graffin
God
Listening
You
" You can't take up all the music bins at a CD retail outlet with Spice Girls CDs and leave nothing for the Joan Jett catalogue. "
Greg Graffin
Nothing
Leave
Up
" I call myself a naturalist as opposed to an atheist, but there are different styles. Some people just like to be close to nature. And some people actually worship nature, which is too wishy-washy because - like a lot of religious believers - they don't depend on facts. "
Greg Graffin
Facts
Nature
People
" I don't mind if other people call me an atheist, but I call myself a naturalist. Atheism doesn't tell you much about what I do believe in; the term naturalist opens up the discussion better. "
Greg Graffin
You
Believe
Me
" I've known a lot of people who were punkers who went on to get academic degrees. Very few of them, however, continued their active role in the punk community. Most of them hung up their leather jacket when they did so. "
Greg Graffin
Community
Leather
People
" In the family, in interpersonal relationships, even in friendship, faith is tremendously important. If you have a partner who you believe is a good person, then it is your duty to have faith in them until the end, despite the fact that they might have done some bad things. And you have to support and believe in your children. "
Greg Graffin
Family
Support
Faith
" Almost everyone shuts down when science becomes too technical; you've got to infuse it with entertainment and storytelling to make it effective. From high school on, science is taught in a very dry manner, which isn't as potent. "
Greg Graffin
Down
You
Science