Janis Joplin was an important American singer in the sixties who became the first woman to be considered a rock and roll star. Also known as the cosmic witch or the white lady of the blues, she was in her time a symbol of the counterculture that stood out for its intensity and its unbridled lifestyle.

Throughout her short life (as she would die at the age of twenty-seven) this young singer would carry out various reflections on different themes. For this reason, and to better understand her thought and philosophy, in this article we leave you with a selection of phrases by Janis Joplin .

Janis Joplin’s Best Sentences and Reflections

Below we present a series of phrases and reflections of this well-known singer, who expressed in her songs her need to love and be free and reflected in them part of her history and feelings. Most of them talk about aspects and themes such as love, freedom, acceptance of what is different and emotion .

1. I just want to feel as much as I can, that’s all the soul is about

For Janis Joplin, feelings and experience were really important, especially when it comes to the search for romantic love.

2. Everyone has to settle for something at some point. You can’t have everything and you can’t go on without endangering your whole life.

This sentence expresses that although we must fight for what we want, we must try to have realistic expectations and not get frustrated by not getting everything we would like.

3. However, you should not settle for less than what makes you happy. Instead of choosing what you think is best, you know you have what you need when happiness comes

Continuing the previous sentence, he says that knowing that we cannot have everything we want does not mean that we have to settle for just anything: we must always look for something that makes us happy. We should not choose for what we believe will be better but for what we feel will fill us.

4. It’s hard to be free, but when it works, it’s worth it!

Being as one is in our life and fighting for what we want leads us to feel free .

5. On stage I make love to 25,000 different people. Then I go home alone

Loneliness was a frequent feeling in the life of the white lady of the blues. This phrase exemplifies that professional success does not have a personal side and that many people only love one part of us and do not take into account the rest.

6. Do you know the reason why only people of color are thought to have souls? Because white people don’t allow themselves to feel with their souls

The singer was born and raised in a strongly racist environment where there was racial segregation and persecution and mistreatment of people of colour, things she opposed.

7. Being intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers

The search for knowledge does not necessarily mean finding answers, but asking new questions. One of Janis Joplin’s phrases reflecting on wisdom .

8. Here I am, my friend, to throw a party, the best one possible while I’m still on earth. I think that is also your duty

The singer says that we must focus on being happy and living in the present and stop worrying excessively about everything that could happen.

9. Don’t endanger your life. You are all you have

To appreciate and value oneself is what this sentence proposes, since we are only going to live one life: our own.

10. I feel so useless down here, with no one to love. Even though I’ve looked everywhere, I can’t find anyone to love me, to feel my affection

Fragment of one of his songs expresses loneliness and the need to love and be loved.

11. What makes you feel good cannot cause you any harm

In this sentence we can see how Janis Joplin sought to find peace in things that made her feel good temporarily. Specifically she referred to the use of drugs and alcohol , which would ultimately cost her her life.

12. I’m buried alive in the blues

The singer expressed her feelings and emotions in all their intensity.

13. Love your animal friends, don’t eat them

Janis Joplin defended the rights of animals , as well as vegetarianism.

14. You can destroy your present by worrying about your future

Overconcern about what might happen in the future pushes us to forget about living in the here and now.

15. Once, in a green time, a flower fell in love with the sun, the passion lasted an hour and then she withered for her beloved

This short fragment of song speaks of a fleeting and passionate love that leaves wounded those who really would have wished for something more.

16. I always wanted to be an artist, no matter what, just like other girls wanted to be stewardesses. I read. I painted. I thought

The expression and communication of emotions and ways of thinking and being oneself, of being free, was what Janis had always wanted to do.

17. Freedom is another word for nothing to lose

While this phrase can be interpreted negatively, it tries to reflect that one who is free has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

18. To be myself, to be the person inside me, not to play, that’s what I’m trying to do all the time more than anything else in the world, so that I don’t fuck with myself or fuck with others

In short, the white lady of the blues defended the need to be authentic and to live coherently and without harming either oneself or others.

19. Here’s the problem: sometimes I have to sleep. But there’s so much going on… Why sleep? I might miss a party

The singer, a symbol of the counterculture and rebellion, pretended to be always active.

20. When I sing I feel like I’m in love. It’s more than sex. It’s the point where two people get to that thing they call love for the first time, multiplied by the whole audience. It’s gigantic.

Singing is a great way of emotional expression, establishing intimate communication with the listener. Moreover, the author of the phrase found comfort in the admiration and appreciation shown by her audience.

21. My business is to have fun and enjoy. And why not, if it’s all over in the end?

Again the singer emphasizes the need to live life as we want to live it, fighting to be happy.

22. We do not forgive others because they deserve it, but because they need it. They need it, we need it, we all need it.

Forgiveness and being forgiven is something we all need to both give and receive, even though we may or may not deserve it.

23. You have to do it while you can

Joplin invites us to act, to live, to experience and to pursue our dreams .

24. I’m one of those commonly weird people

Janis Joplin was always considered an outsider, suffering from bullying since childhood and suffering from serious self-esteem problems for much of her life.

25. All you really need are feelings

This phrase reflects that what really matters is how we feel about ourselves, others and life.

26. I am a victim of my own self. There was a time when I wanted to know everything. I used to make myself very unhappy, that feeling. I didn’t know what to do with it. But now I have learned to make that feeling work for me

It is logical to want to know everything, but we must be aware that we cannot know everything and that our understanding of the world is limited .

27. I want you to count, to count your fingers, my unhappy, unfortunate one. My sad little girl. I know you’re unhappy, darling, I know.

Part of one of her songs expresses the sense of loneliness and need for affection that Janis felt for most of her life.

28. I have looked around and have been able to understand something: how much we need to be loved. Ambition is not just a desperate search for position or money. It is about love, a lot of love.

The need to be loved is something that moves us to a great extent to act (even in ways apparently contrary to that) in order to get loved.

29. If you’re getting more shit than you deserve, you know what to do about it. You know, all you need is more music.

With this phrase, the singer wants to show that we should not let ourselves be influenced by the attacks or opinions of others, but that we should continue to be ourselves .

30. One of these mornings you are going to get up, get up singing, spread your wings, boy, and soar to the sky

This phrase is part of one of his songs : it is a translation of a fragment of Summertime . Although it can be interpreted as the fact of dreaming, it refers to death