Top 140 Jack White Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “The Eagle does not escape the storm. The Eagle simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It spreads its mighty wings and rises on the winds that bring the storm.”

— Jack White

2. “Well, I sort of don’t trust anybody who doesn’t like Led Zeppelin.”

— Jack White

3. “The secret is planning your work and working your plan. If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you arrive? You can’t stumble upon your destination.”

— Jack White

4. “When I say nothing, I say everything.”

— Jack White

5. “Failure comes when we don’t get back up and try again.”

— Jack White

6. “Deadlines and things make you creative.”

— Jack White

7. “Happiness is more important than money any day.”

— Jack White

8. “Telling yourself you have all the time in the world, all the colors in the palette, that just kills creativity.”

— Jack White

9. “I’m one of those people that you have to keep your eye on or I’ll wander off into the woods and forget to come back.”

— Jack White

10. “I trust no one who hasn’t time for music.”

— Jack White

11. “Selling is nothing more than asking questions and waiting for an answer.”

— Jack White

12. “The bottom line is we must get off our duff and make an effort to succeed. Trust me on this, when you see someone successful in any of the arts they have been willing to make an extra effort.”

— Jack White

13. “Success is having a career that you love with every fiber in your body.”

— Jack White

14. “Mastery is the rudder, Mystery is the sail and Magic the wind to move you in your chosen direction.”

— Jack White

15. “I really don’t like to take the easy way out, if I can help it, on anything I do, I like to really make it a challenge. I don’t know how to create by taking the easy routes. I’ve tried, you know, I’ve tried to let myself, but I always struggle to compensate.”

— Jack White

16. “Life is simple unless we find a way to make it complicated.”

— Jack White

17. “Passion, for me, is like a shark – it never stops moving.”

— Jack White

18. “I’ve always worked to find really deep meaning of song and also at the same time having it covered in sugar, so it can be taken two or three different ways.”

— Jack White

19. “Some people consider the way Shakespeare was writing about Ophelia as erotomania-that she was delusional in thinking that Hamlet was in love with her. But I don’t think so.”

— Jack White

20. “This generation is so dead. You ask a kid, ‘What are you doing this Saturday?’ and they’ll be playing video games or watching cable, instead of building model cars or airplanes or doing something creative. Kids today never say, ‘Man, I’m really into remote-controlled steamboats.’”

— Jack White

21. “Promotion and perception are synonymous twins of art marketing.”

— Jack White

22. “If what you are doing is working, DON’T change just to be different. Just get better.”

— Jack White

23. “Many days you will want to give up because of rejections and failures. Passion to be an artist will help you prevail where others fail.”

— Jack White

24. “Jesus Christ, is this an NPR convention?”

— Jack White

25. “Do not trust people who call themselves musicians or record collectors who say that they don’t like Bob Dylan or the Beatles. They do not love music if those words come out of their mouths.”

— Jack White

26. “Any man with a microphone can tell you what he loves the most.”

— Jack White

27. “I have so much music inside me I’m just trying to stay afloat. I don’t tend to write for a particular band – you have to just write the songs and then let God into the room and let the music tell you what to do.”

— Jack White

28. “Inspiration and work ethic – they ride right next to each other.”

— Jack White

29. “The price we sell things for is not important. What is important is we sell art that has to be replaced. You become good in art by doing art. The more you sell, the more you must produce.”

— Jack White

30. “I gave myself over to music and art a long time ago, so I don’t get to relax and I don’t get to sit still. The best I can do is constantly create my own environment so it benefits what I need to accomplish in the next step.”

— Jack White

31. “Inspiration and creativity, they ride right next to one anotherNot everyday are you going to wake up, the clouds are gonna part and the rays are gonna come downsometimes you gotta just get in there and force yourself to work and maybe something good will come out of it.”

— Jack White

32. “It is the pursuit of happiness that brings us happiness, and not the happiness achieved.”

— Jack White

33. “You can’t do better than that.”

— Jack White

34. “Every time there’s a list of the 100 greatest records of all time, all those albums were recorded in two days. Hardly any of them took a year, I’ll tell you. In this day and age, I think it’s important that people know that.”

— Jack White

35. “Can there be enough books to answer all your questions?”

— Jack White

36. “The Bottom Line: If people don’t LOVE our work, we will not be able to sell what we make.”

— Jack White

37. “It is not the style but the quality and emotional impact of work that makes it marketable. Unless we make art that connects with people, we won’t sell much, no matter what the style or subject.”

— Jack White

38. “Our art is an adventure. It is a dream come true.”

— Jack White

39. “It seemed like there was no control over it. I think certain things just popped. God was blessing us in telling us that certain things were going the way they were supposed to go.”

— Jack White

40. “Music is what I have to do, I only answer the questions so that I can do it.”

— Jack White

41. “I love the way art moves people emotionally. I love the fact that when someone purchases art it is the one thing that will last for generations.”

— Jack White

42. “That’s what happens nowadays with people working on computers. They can so easily fix things with their mouse and take out all the, ‘Oh, somebody coughed in the background; we need to take that out’ – or somebody hit a bad note. Those are all the best moments.”

— Jack White

43. “Art is only worth what people will pay for it. Artists do not get paid by the hour.”

— Jack White

44. “People talk about wanting amenities – downtown is the amenity.”

— Jack White

45. “Vinyl is the real deal. I’ve always felt like, until you buy the vinyl record, you don’t really own the album. And it’s not just me or a little pet thing or some kind of retro romantic thing from the past. It is still alive.”

— Jack White

46. “I’ve always been making up my own restrictions for myself, from day one, and it’s compelling, because it forces me to think. That’s always been a driving force for me.”

— Jack White

47. “I love the Arctic Monkeys. Who doesn’t? I’d love to see them live, but haven’t got round to it yet. I never get to see bands because I’m never in the same town for more than two seconds.”

— Jack White

48. “There have been three times. Once I got in a car accident and shattered my finger. A few years ago I didn’t feel like being alive. That’s all I can say.”

— Jack White

49. “Passion is the breath we take, the water we drink to sustain ourselves. Without air and water we perish; without passion an artist will wither and blow away.”

— Jack White

50. “Maybe we should all just listen to records and quit our jobs.”

— Jack White