Paul Simon Quotes

“Someone could walk into this room and say your life is on fire.”

“It's very helpful to start with something that's true. If you start with something that's false, you're always covering your tracks. Something simple and true, that has a lot of possibilities, is a nice way to begin.”

“Was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Not a negative word was heard.”

“These are the days of lasers in the jungle, staccato signals of constant information.”

“It's actually very difficult to make something both simple and good.”

“I met my old lover on the street last night. She seemed so glad to see me, I just smiled. Then we talked about some old times and we drank ourselves some beers, still crazy after all these years.”

“I don't believe what the papers are saying They're just out to capture my dime, Exaggerating this, exaggerating that.”

“The dialogue between what's going on in the world and what's going on internally seems to be a natural thing - well, it's natural to me, anyway, to have these thoughts.”

“...everything looks worse in black and white.”

“...what threatens us today in the world of computers and other invasions of privacy is not a national ID card but a number of other things.”

“I rate each album as better than the last one. That's how I see it.”

“And she said 'Losing love is like a window in your heart,Everybody sees you're blown apart,Everybody feels the wind blow.'”

“You sit and you let your fingers go to wherever they are going to go. You wait until you start to hear something, and you start to figure out what it is that you're doing. And then you add another piece next to that piece, and wait to see if some kind of pattern or something interesting starts to grow, and then you cultivate it.”

“Much of songwriting is simply a mystery.”

“Nor is it strange That after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same”

“I try to open up my heart as much as I can and keep a real keen eye out that I don't get sentimental. I think we're all afraid to reveal our hearts. It's not at all in fashion.”

“I didn't get how big it was until I went home, turned on the television and saw it on all the news, and later that night on the front pages of all the newspapers. Then I got it.”

“I don't consider myself to be a major talent, so the only solace I can take is to hope I'm growing.”

“Breakdowns come, and breakdowns go.”

“I'm not in it for the money. I like music. I love to write music. I can't imagine myself not playing or singing or writing. It would just drive me crazy if I didn't.”

“Being an artist doesn't mean that you're a good artist. That was the bargain I first made with myself: I'd say, I'm an artist, but I'm not really very good.”

“Time, time, time, see what's become of me,While I looked around,For my possibilities;I was so hard to please”

“Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away.”

“Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts.”

“The more I get to thinking, the less I tend to laugh.”

“One man's ceiling is another man's floor.”

“Listen to the sound of silence.”

“I have my books And my poetry to protect me; I am shielded in my armor, Hiding in my room, safe within my womb. I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock, I am an island.”

“Jay Ashby is simply a great musician!”

“I really don't know what exactly all the songs mean. Sometimes other people have meanings and when I hear them I think, 'That's really a better meaning than I thought, and perfectly valid, given the words that exist.' So part of what makes a song really good is that people take in different meanings, and they apply them, and they might be more powerful than the ones I'm thinking.”

“I've got nothing to do today but smile.”

“I want to rid my heart of envy, and cleanse my soul of rage before I'm through.”

“I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers, still crazy after all these years.”

“It's a big error to think that because you like somebody's work, you're going to like him.”

“I don't very often think I've done a good job. I don't like the majority of what I do. I shouldn't say I don't like it, but I'm not satisfied with almost everything that I do.”

“It's pointless to be critical of your stuff once it's done. I don't spend a lot of time agonising over it. It's of no importance once it's finished.”

“We work our jobs, collect our pay, believe were gliding down the highway, when in fact we're slip sliding away.”

“I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died. If I never loved I never would have cried...I am a rock.”

“I think Bridge Over Troubled Water was a very good song. Artie sang it beautifully. The Boxer was a really nice record. But I don't think I've written any great songs.”

“There are lots of really good guitarists, but they play with the same pedals that everybody else does. Everybody buys the same pedals, so the sounds tend to be the same. I am looking for different ways of doing that without having to spend days and weeks and months fooling around with pedals, which I don't enjoy.”

“When I was 15, I made a solo record. It made Artie very unhappy. He looked upon it as something of a betrayal.”

“I like working with sound; sound and rhythm. I like the abstract more than "What does that mean?" Nobody ever says to you, "Why did you use a harmonium?" Or "What is that ringing sound that occurs here?" The questions are always "What does that song mean?" or "What were you trying to say here?"”

“I would be willing to do almost anything to make Art happy. I care about our friendship. The only thing I won't do is change the essence of my work.”

“Artie travels all the time. The rehearsals were just miserable. Artie and I fought all the time. He didn't want to do the show with my band; he just wanted me on acoustic guitar.”

“Some people never say the words ‘I love you’, for like a child they’re longing to be told.”

“The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains.”

“You know, life is what you make of it- so beautiful or so what.”

“To get the stuff out of you, especially if what you're dealing with is yourself, requires you to open up and touch tender spots. You have to be anesthetized a little bit.”

“Just slip out the back, Jack, make a new plan, Stan, you don't need to be coy, Roy, just get yourself free. Hop on the bus, Gus, you don't need to discuss much, just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.”

“We're living in a certain time, and we're aware of it. And that's part of what we're aware of, along with our own personal aches and pains.”