Quote Of The Day By Bruce Springsteen: 'The Great Challenge Of Adulthood Is ...'

Heartland rock icon Bruce Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on September 23, 1949, and became one of the state's most famous figures after emerging into the rock mainstream with the E Street Band in the early 1970s. Often regarded as America's greatest musical chronicler of blue-collar life, his work has explored the trials and tribulations of the working class like few other artists working in the popular music sphere. He has developed an enormous following thanks to his moving lyricism and dynamic, muscular rock sound.

Springsteen has amassed a fortune, having sold more than 150 million records around the world and garnered 20 Grammy Awards thanks to classics such as "Born to Run," "Hungry Heart," "Dancing in the Dark," and countless more over a career that has lasted more than half a century. He continues to be a powerful creative force and a public figure with the ability to share big ideas — both of which are factors that have led to us picking him for our Quote of the Day.

"The great challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence."

The quote appears in "The Bruce Springsteen Scrapbook," a 2004 biography of the musician by Hank Bordowitz that charts his career with various quotes Springsteen had given to the press over the years. In the same quote, Springsteen adds that it is imperative to continue "believing in the power of the human spirit," before adding: "Amnesty International is an organization that reaffirms that power."

The quote appears to have been given in 1988, when Springsteen was a co-headliner on the "Human Rights Now! Tour" alongside other major artists including Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour and Joan Baez. The six-week, 20-concert tour took place across 15 countries, and has been credited with encouraging thousands of new members to join the organization, a worldwide human rights movement.

Bruce Springsteen's politics are central to his identity as an artist. Many of his songs, most notably the anti-war classic "Born in the U.S.A.," have overt political themes even if they are lost on some audiences. And he has continued to wear his politics on his sleeve, calling out injustice where he sees it and reacting through song. His recent single "Streets of Minneapolis," for example, openly challenged the brutality brought to the city by an influx of ICE agents during the department's crackdown on immigration.

Springsteen shows that he does indeed live by his words in our Quote of the Day, in that even after 50 years of reacting artistically to the political injustices he sees in the world, he still believes in the power of his music to affect change.

And taken in retrospect, as Springsteen enters the twilight years of his career still active both as a touring and recording artist, the quote also seems reflective of his attitude to his own art. He may have been within his rights to rest on his laurels, playing it safe in terms of his later output. But Springsteen's idealism seems to propel him forward, both as a songwriter and as a public figure.

• "You're always in a box, and you're an escape artist if you do what I do — or if you're a creative person, period. You build your box, and then you escape from it. You build another one, and you escape from it. That's ongoing."

• "Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time."

• "You can't be afraid of getting old. Old is good, if you're gathering in life."

• "If you're good, you're always looking over your shoulder."

• "The future is now. Roll up your sleeves and let your passion flow. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting."