David Johansen Quotes

You never expect anything when you are 20 because you think that you'll never get older.

I had years of partying, and I was kind of surprised and happy I survived it all. Now, being a parent, I look back on it thinking, Oh God, the things you did!

When you're in your early 20s, you go ahead and do everything. And it's very hard to judge yourself.

The minute you're born, you're getting older.

There comes a point in your life when you realize how quickly time goes by, and how quickly it has gone. Then it really speeds up exponentially. With that, I think you start to put a lot of things into context; you start to see how huge the world is, and really, the universe.

Even when you're 22 and you feel immortal, you know in your heart you're not.

You're immortal, aren't you, until you get a little peek over the precipice. The thought of death...You're not supposed to start pondering it until you're old. And there's nothing like being told you've got a life-threatening disease to concentrate your mind on that.

Getting older is a fact of life.

I certainly don't hope to live forever, but on the other hand, I'm not reckless.

At the end of the day, when you're young you think you're invincible.

In your twenties, you think you are immortal. In your thirties, you hope you are immortal.

If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being a grown-up is about learning how to die.

In youth we take egregious risks because death has no reality for us. Youth goes caparisoned in immortality. It is only in middle age that we are shadowed by the awareness of the transitoriness of life.

But now it seems possible that the truth about getting older is that there are fewer and fewer things to make fun of until finally there is nothing you are sure you will never be.

I've calmed down, certainly, from the days of being 18, but I'm still having a good time.

I used to believe I was going to live forever. And then you suddenly become aware that you're not.

I'm still grappling with all the things most people resolve by the time they're 35. Maybe that's why I make music that is relevant to young people. I'm emotionally stuck at the age of 13.

I see teenagers or people who are 21 and think, 'I was an idiot at that age.' I was running around New York like a crazy woman. Thank God I only had three and a half cents to my name. I was too immature to handle success then.

All of my friends are my age and we are all ageing at the same time. We talk about it and moan, but it doesn't bother me.

My interests are different now than they were thirty years ago.

Age wins and one must learn to grow old.

If I stay in here until I am 100 years olds, I will still be a man.

I can't believe I've turned into a typical old man. I can't believe it. I was young just minutes ago.

It's taken me longer still to realize what a short span there is between those life experiences and the rest of your life. That's a job for the people who lived through it.

As you get older, subconsciously you start thinking about mortality and protecting your offspring. It opens up a whole new avenue of life experiences.