Skip to main content

Time & Perspective Quote by Rick Danko

"By doing something positive in this world, you're helping people and the future. We're all trying to help the world... make it a better place to live. We're actually still changing the world, aren't we?"

About this Quote

There is something disarmingly unguarded about Rick Danko framing social change as a shared, ongoing jam session. He is not pitching a grand theory of progress; he is reaching for a feeling musicians know well: you add your part, you listen, you leave the room a little fuller than you found it. The line "doing something positive" is almost comically plain, but that plainness is the point. It refuses the macho mythology of the lone genius and swaps it for a working musician's ethic: show up, contribute, don't make it worse.

The subtext is humility with a pulse of optimism. Danko doesn't claim to "save" anything. He talks like someone aware of how fragile "the future" sounds when you say it out loud, especially from inside an industry that sells rebellion as a brand. "We're all trying to help the world" reads less like a manifesto than a gentle peer pressure: you, me, everyone in the room, accountable in small ways.

The last question - "We're actually still changing the world, aren't we?" - lands as a self-check. It's hopeful, but also a little anxious, the way you ask a bandmate if the groove is still there. Coming from a member of The Band, whose music mythologized American roots while living through the cultural hangover of the 60s and 70s, it doubles as a quiet defense of art's usefulness. Not as a megaphone, but as a practice: keep playing, keep helping, keep nudging the needle.

Quote Details

TopicKindness
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Danko, Rick. (2026, January 16). By doing something positive in this world, you're helping people and the future. We're all trying to help the world... make it a better place to live. We're actually still changing the world, aren't we? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-doing-something-positive-in-this-world-youre-89887/

Chicago Style
Danko, Rick. "By doing something positive in this world, you're helping people and the future. We're all trying to help the world... make it a better place to live. We're actually still changing the world, aren't we?" FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-doing-something-positive-in-this-world-youre-89887/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"By doing something positive in this world, you're helping people and the future. We're all trying to help the world... make it a better place to live. We're actually still changing the world, aren't we?" FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-doing-something-positive-in-this-world-youre-89887/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Rick Add to List
By Doing Something Positive, You Help People and the Future - Rick Danko
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

Canada Flag

Rick Danko (December 9, 1943 - December 10, 1999) was a Musician from Canada.

24 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes