Peter Coyote Quotes

• The idea of absolute freedom is fiction. It's based on the idea of an independent self. But in fact, there's no such thing. There's no self without other people. There's no self without sunlight. There's no self without dew. And water. And bees to pollinate the food that we eat...So the idea of behaving in a way that doesn't acknowledge those reciprocal relationships is not really freedom, it's indulgence.

  Peter Coyote

  Nature, Independent, Animal

  47 Copy quote

• The self is just not a worthy enough vehicle to worship.

  Peter Coyote

  Self, Worship, Enough

  11 Copy quote

• You don't see artists sitting around a lot, talking about ideology. They find out what they believe, and what they're doing, by doing it.

  Peter Coyote

  Believe, Artist, Talking

  4 Copy quote

• Interdependence is a fact, it's not an opinion.

  Peter Coyote

  Facts, Opinion, Interdependence

  9 Copy quote

• It came home to me indelibly that I was never going to change anything in America by walking around carrying a sign. It was a great revelation. It saved me a lot of anxiety and a lot of wasted energy.

  Peter Coyote

  Home, America, Anxiety

  7 Copy quote

• Business is a subset of the environment, not the other way around. You can't have a healthy economy, you can't have a healthy anything in a degraded environment.

  Peter Coyote

  Aggravation, Healthy, Way

  8 Copy quote

• Where I didn't have the maturity and the compassion to consider other people's needs, I did a lot of damage.

  Peter Coyote

  Maturity, Compassion, People

  "Peter Coyote" by Cynthia Robins, www.sfgate.com. April 19, 1998.

  6 Copy quote

• Once you accept anything as tacked down, then you begin to build a structure, to accept limits. Then you have to make a choice as to whether or not you're going to accept that structure. If you do, you give up the notion of total freedom.

  Peter Coyote

  Giving Up, Choices, Limits

  4 Copy quote

• The body is an inviolable limit. And you have to really hurt it before you know that.

  Peter Coyote

  Hurt, Feelings, Body

  7 Copy quote

• Everyone knows that our current system is kind of like legalized prostitution. The corporate sector completely controls the civic sector.

  Peter Coyote

  Kind, Currents, Prostitution

  8 Copy quote

• Money is a way of creating scarcity.

  Peter Coyote

  Creating, Scarcity, Way

  7 Copy quote

• Habitat for wildlife is continually shrinking - I can at least provide a way station.

  Peter Coyote

  Shrinking, Habitat, Way

  7 Copy quote

• Any political agenda and organization which doesn't begin with personal responsibility is just half the argument. It's just not going to succeed.

  Peter Coyote

  Responsibility, Organization, Political

  7 Copy quote

• I think the '60s were an extraordinary time. I feel bad for the kids today who missed this wonderful confluence, which was simultaneously a confluence of the global and the mythological.

  Peter Coyote

  Kids, Thinking, Today

  69 Copy quote

• Phil Cousineau has created a fine companion book to accompany the important film he and Gary Rhine have made in defense of the religious traditions of Native Americans. [Native Americans] are recognized the world over as keepers of a vital piece of the Creator's original orders, and yet they are regarded as little more than squatters at home. This book features impressive interviews, beautiful illustrations, and gives a voice to the voiceless.

  Peter Coyote

  Beautiful, Religious, Book

  4 Copy quote

• When I got to Grinnell College, I was part of the black turtleneck sweater and Camel cigarette crowd of poets and writers.

  Peter Coyote

  College, Sweaters, Black

  "Bay Area theater leaders on their inspirations" by Robert Hurwitt, www.sfgate.com. December 15, 2013.

  9 Copy quote

• I think it's good that people value their bodies and take care of them. I think if you cross the line and begin using your body as an asset or as an extension of your vanity, you've gone too far.

  Peter Coyote

  Thinking, Vanity, People

  6 Copy quote

• I would say 90 percent of my mail and phone calls are from people who want some kind of help or succor or commitment from me to do something.

  Peter Coyote

  Commitment, Phones, People

  7 Copy quote

• I got out of college and I went to get my master's in creative writing at San Francisco State. I was working as an actor at the Actor's Workshop, being abused as a intern.

  Peter Coyote

  Writing, College, San Francisco

  7 Copy quote

• Kennedy invited us into the White House-the first time in the history of the White House picketers had been invited inside. This made front page headlines.

  Peter Coyote

  White, House, Pages

  7 Copy quote

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