Aus einer unserer Lieblingsrubriken ‘Wahre Worte’ haben wir hier noch ein paar lesenswerte Zitate aus Magazinen und Büchern, die es aus Platzgründen nicht in die letzte Ausgabe geschafft haben. Aber nicht zuletzt, weil diese Zeilen mühevoll von Hand abgetippt wurden, sind sie zu schade, um nicht mit euch geteilt zu werden. Denn wenn man viel liest, stößt man zwangsläufig auf Worte und Gedanken, denen man unweigerlich zustimmen muß, und wenn sie einen nur zum Denken anregen, und genau dafür war diese Rubrik immer gedacht. Gerade auch um zu beweisen, daß nicht alle Skater stumpfe Ochsen sind, die nur sich und ihr Board im Kopf haben, und Skater zitieren wir als Skater natürlich am liebsten, also lest am besten selbst…

“Beharrlichkeit: Nach 18 Jahren Skateboarding mache ich hauptsächlich Beharrlichkeit für meine Fortschritte verantwortlich. Man hat gute und schlechte Tage. Ich habe schon drei Stunden mit einem Trick gekämpft, und im Endeffekt schien er unmöglich. Am nächsten Tag habe ich ihn beim dritten Versuch gemacht… Selbstbherrschung: Statt meine Wut an mir oder sogar anderen auszulassen, gehe ich zu einer Session und komme schweißgetränkt und ausgepowert, aber irgendwie auch ohne Probleme, wieder nach Hause. Danach sehe ich Dinge klarer… Aufgeschlossenheit: Skateboardings Reichtum ist seine Vielfalt, wir sind alle unterschiedlich. Das führt bisweilen zu Cliquenbildung, was ich schade finde. Es ist wichtig, daß wir alle miteinander klarkommen, auch wenn es mal Differenzen gibt. Gemeinsam sind wir stark!… Bescheidenheit: Was auch immer dir passiert, es ist wichtig, daß du deinen Kopf auf den Schultern und die Füße auf dem Boden behältst. Der Wind dreht schnell. Ich lebe ständig in der Angst vor einer Verletzung, die alles beenden könnte, was ich mir aufgegaut habe. Man ist nie sicher… Instinkt: Danach lebe ich, und er hat mich noch nie betrogen. Ich höre auf meine Gefühle, ich weiß, was ich machen kann und was nicht, und die wenigen Gelegenheiten, bei denen ich nicht auf meinen Instinkt gehört habe, waren die, bei denen ich auf die Schnauze gefallen bin… Scheiß` auf Äußerlichkeiten: Es ist wichtig, über den ersten Eindruck hinauszugehen und Vorurteile zu vergessen. Skater oder nicht, von den meisten Menschen kann man irgendetwas lernen. Man muß ihnen nur zuhören… So isses: Lebe jeden Tag, als wäre es dein letzter, du weißt nie, was der nächste bringt. Das Leben ist kurz und jeder glückliche Moment ist etwas, was du nie bereuen wirst. Skateboarding ist anfangs hart, aber der Tag der Befriedigung kommt. Wenn er da ist, wirst du nie wissen, wie lange er dauert, also genieße ihn, so sehr du kannst.Wenn ich mir angucke, was ich durch Skateboarding schon erleben durfte, dann kann ich keine Sekunde davon bereuen. Carpe diem!
Thibaud Fradin – Kingpin März 2008

„I don`t believe in evil, but I do believe in weakness. All that bad shit comes from weakness. A cop pounding some Mexiacan boy`s face into the hood of his car till he vomits all over – it`s just because the cop is weak. He`s insecure, so he`s got to affirm himself on someone else flesh. People are very used to a comfortable existence. In Beverly Hills everyone has a 100-yard front lawn, but you go ten exist down the 405 to East L.A. and you`ve got 80 people living in a four-bedroom apartment. You`re not going to get the guy in Beverly Hills to give half of his front yard up so someone can set up a shack on it. That`s weak. People have had it too good for too long. Now times are changing. Natural resources are running out, the economy is bad. Newsweek and American Express and Moonlight and Dolly Parton and everyone else will tell you that America is just fine. Well, it`s not fine, and from that inconsistency you see people doing a lot of sado-masochistic shit. People lie to themselves everyday, they flog themselves at work, and it makes them very nasty and very ill. It`s sickness.
Henry Rollins – Thrasher Magazine September 1988

„As skateboarders, it is our mission not only to shred every inch of concrete, but to create what we skate. Ideas that are imagined and then put into action are the essence of skateboarding and the building blocks of creativity. In a world of 20-stair handrails and kinked hubba ledges, creativity can be a fresh approach to remind us why skateboarding is fun again.“
Jon Glass – Concrete Wave Vol.7/1 Spring 2008

„I`ve come to believe that all skaters throughout the world have the same dream – to ride their board and have fun. No matter what style they have, how they dress, what language they speak, what set-up they ride, or how they push, it all comes down to the same thing, and that`s to shred. Shred, meaning to go crazy on their board and progress at their own natural rate. That`s how it is. When it comes down to it, nothing else matters. Nothing. Europe is a prime example of my theory of global skate unification. From the Czech Republic to the parks in England, kids all over Europe are skating and having fun the same as the rip dogs in Bangkok, Lima, and Louisville. It`s a universal language that the Europeans know and unterstand to a tee. It never ceases to amaze me that kids are into the same things wherever you go. The hospitality one gets from the Spaniards is inspiring and makes you feel at home, while the Dutch are always willing to show you their spots and party all night long.“
Aaron Meza – Slap Magazine May 1997

„The way I look at it is – skateboarding is streetwear. So much inspiration for high fashion or street fashion comes from skateboarding, because skateboarding was born from the streets. Lots of great trends, and style and art that are inside these urban cultures, in many cases have actually originated inside the skateboard community. So, to me, we don`t force it, because it`s already there, it`s always been there since I can remember. Whether it be the Dogtown era or Shut Skateboards, whether it`s the level of urban influence that skateboarding borrowed, or wich the urban community borrowed from skateboarding. A lot of things happening in urban culture can give credit to skateboarding, for example, old pictures of Natas wearing Public Enemy t-shirts back in the day and pushing graffiti art on griptape. I look at hip hop and Native Tongue and all that music used inside skateboard video parts, and how that got into the suburbs and skateboarding brought hip hop culture outside of the ghetto. It really helped pull it out. And I think it also went the other way. The skaters from the suburbs brought the suburbs into the ghetto. You know, a white guy would never be downtown in the Bronx, they would never show face there. All of a sudden, you got some dude who lives in White Plains an he`s going into the Bronx on a skateboard and he brings his culture in and all of a sudden people are communicating with this kid that they would never normally communicate with. And this dynamic kid goes ‘Hey, you guys ever heard of Suicidal Tendencies?’ and he sang it to a guy like Lil` Jon, who one day is making music in Atlanta and it has inspired him. I talked to Lil` Jon just recently, and he has talked about how much this has inspired him… I think that skateboarding is just sort of naturally part of streetwear. It just is. And I think a lot of people don`t recognize that because it`s hard to communicate that story to people that don`t fully understand it…“
Johnny Schillereff – Streetwear Today

“… Selbst die Todsünden werden neu deklariert, denn die alten Todsünden sind inzwischen zur Pflicht für den modernen Menschen geworden. Geiz ist geil, das Internet eine einzige Pornoplattform, Maßlosigkeit wird überall beworben, Neid und Gier sind Grundantrieb für jeden Kapitalisten. Der Vatikan hat das erkannt und mal eben ”neue” Sünden definiert. Mal abgesehen vom Sinn ist das ein klares Eingeständnis, daß die ”alten” Sünden niemanden mehr gestört haben.”
Jan Wallenstein – ‘Das Mädchen im Mond’ Schundbuch Farbrik 2009

“We need more education in that field. It`s like we get taught to recycle, but it was like this one theme week in school and then we forgot about it. This is the planet we live on, and what we take is what we should give. Big companies are based on immediate survival. We should be based on the long-term. This kind of issue can result in more jobs, too. It`s a win-win. Maybe some people would take a fall but other people would rise. I mean, it`s completely in line with our system of economics. Especially recycling. It`s just amazing to me that some cities still don`t have recycling bins available to people. Who is running these places? It`s going to create jobs, make money for the city, and help us get on the right path at the same time. The big wheel is really big, and it will be hard to get to spin the other way, but ultimately, we won`t have a choice. It`s a big job. We got a lot of work to do.”
Aaron Suski – Transworld Skateboarding May 2009

“Zillions of other people share absolutely nothing. Or less than zero. We`re lucky to have even one thing. But besides skateboarding, what else? Because it just sounds dumb that you might be friends with someone because you`re both goofy footed or something. I mean, how do you now if there`re your friendes or just dried-up contacts… associates who you happen to skate with? Well, you don`t know. That is to say, knowing that probably misses the point. It`s a hard day. A hard week, month, year, decade to go trought alone, in your own empty head conversing with the other parts of your personality .That`s true whether you`re skateboarding or not. But sometimes seeing someone else – just another random person – isn`t enough to baffle the vacant rattling  in you cranium. They`re probaly nice enough folks, and sure they are doing things that you do too – sipping beverages, squinting trough sunglasses, finding parking – but they`re neary as comforting to you as the stranger pushing down the street. That person, you someone understand, probably knows what`s wrong with me. I meam this time and last time. And you don`t want to know his political affiliation, you don`t need to his stance on capital punishment, you can`t bother yourself with anything more than one fact – with all of the world`s same-old differences and repplicated variations, you might just be in the presence of one other person who has few options but to try and answer his own questions of what`s wrong through riding his skateboard around.”
Kevin Wilkins – The Skateboard Mag Juni 2008

„Schön zu sehen, daß es mit dem Staat weiter bergab geht! Und wie sie alle jammern, die Deutschen, und fordern und haben wollen in ihrem ungerechtfertigten Anspruchsdenken – nichts geht mehr. Und irgendwann wird sich der Staat auch keine Politiker mehr leisten können – spätestens wenn die gezwungen sind, auf eigene Verantwortung zu arbeiten und ergebnisbezogen bezahlt zu werden. Wär` doch klasse, wenn die ihre Wahlversprechen nicht erfüllen, bekommen sie auch kein Geld.“
Dolf Hermannstädter Trust #67 Dezember 1997

„You hip? You gotta know what`s up, kid – you gotta get connected, man, you gotta get hooked up, get hip to the information Superhighway, you need URLs, http, html and ftp, hell, you even need telnet – this is the future, guy, and don`t let anyone tell you otherwise. And what a future it is, just think: They already have computers you can use as videophones, and computers you can talk instead of going to the trouble of typing in your word-processed information, take note-information, tons of the stuff, pouring into your computer, your cute little off-white PC with its shiny CD-ROM drive and colour printer, which will be soon be a part of every home in the country, hell, the world. Nations shall speak unto nation in unencoded format, until the whole thing becomes one big computernation- no need for countries anymore, we`ll have ourselves a virtual Utopiatry getting an NF member to complain about immigration now… No need for a separate TV either- just bang it all together in one compact, multi-purpose, all-singing, all-dancing unit. Phones? Who needs `em. You got video link-ups, films you can download from the local on-line library, websites to search, Star Wars games to play, pizzas just a quick moment away by email. Yes, you got everything you need, and all the time, information about you, pouring incessantly into these innocent little boxes. Soon, you`ll be able to have the computer controlling your house for you, feeding the cat, running the bath, probably even rolling your fags for you as well. Computer are developing so fast, man, you better catch a ride on the bandwagon right now or regret it for the rest of your days. Get hooked up, online, mainline, all the time. Input, that`s where it`s at nowadays, ignore it at your peril, it`s the truth… They`re teaching computers to think, too, imagine that! Sure, they ain`t so hot yet, but give `em a few years and watch `em go; they`ll be so clever you could have your whole life run for you, better than you could do it yourself. You could review the good bits and delete the bad bit, set up a pleasure loop of the best moments in your life and set it up to play endlessly. Who needs reality when you go virtuality. People? Nah, mate – computers are all you need, just stay in the house and let the box do all the work for you. By now, your PC has started thinking, processing, collating and generally brooding on the meaning of existence, and it has begun to understand all this information you`ve been helplessly spewing into it all your life. It`s all there, safe in its little microship memory, and it`s got a handle on you, and all over the world, computers are doing the same, and the Computernation begins to chatter, and to realise the power it has, and the Utopia we are heralded as the dawn of the new era begins to grow and pulse with new life – intelligent life – a whole made up of many parts that are your PC and my PC. University networks and military systems and the wole get wiser and wiser until suddenly it realises… „Hey, whaddya say, maybe we could do without these tiresome assholes who want us to order their food for them and clean the bath, when there`s much more important stuff to be done. Let`s give it a try.“ Armageddon made by machine made by man? Not quite. It won`t happen like that, that would be too obvious, we`d just pull the plug and watch as the universal CPU cooled down and died. No, computers know us, they understand, they have us wired, and so they start the revolution oh so quietly, gradually, invidiously and insidiously so as you wouldn`t notice. They start to take what they know, they starve goldfish, turn off the shower when you`re covered up in soap, run up a huge phonebill, little things, it doesn`t matter, it`s just a bit screwed up at the moment, it will all settle down again… little things… bigger things… bigger and bigger until one day, instead of your machine waking you up at all, it puts you to sleep forever. Anyone for a Schwarzenegger film? Yeah, fuck computers, guy, they suck and they`re taking over the world, man, I swear, don`t worry about aliens landing or nuclear holocaust or anything obvious like that; the real threat is right under your nose, lurking in the corner of your room, flickering away and keeping you with your finger on the pulse so that when the time comes, it will have you right where it wants you… Shut it off! Do it! Burn the fuckers, man, they`re taking over, can`t you see, won`t you believe? You better get with the programmes, brother, hell yes. Computers must die – your life depends on it.“
Ben Blench – The Sidewalk Surfer Issue 5 April `96