Paul Simon Quotes

I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told, and I have squandered my resistance, for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises. All lies in jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest ... la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lala-la-la-la-la ...

People often called us perfectionists, but we were not looking for perfection. We were looking for some kind of magic in the music.

The death penalty is reserved for people who do not

Not every song I write is ecstasy. And it can happen only one time. After that, when you sing the same melody and words, it's pleasure, but you don't get wiped out.

When I began making my own albums, the songs became funkier. They were more about the streets.

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

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.

Faith is an island in the setting sun, But proof is the bottom line for everyone.

The words come. Usually, it's a long time before they come. And then when they start to come, it doesn't take so long for it to be finished. It takes a long time to begin. And then it sort of gets finished.

The Wisdom is old, the Koran is old, the Bible is old. Disagreements? Work 'em out.

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

Sail on silver girl, sail on by ... your time has come to shine all your dreams are on their way ... see how they shine..oh and if you need a friend. I'm sailing right behind ...

I'm going to Graceland, for reasons I cannot explain. There's some part of me wants to see Graceland. And I may be advised to defend every love, every ending, or maybe there's no obligations now. Maybe I've a reason to believe we all will be received in Graceland.

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.

If you'll be my body guard, I can be your long lost pal.

Everything looks worse in black and white.

A man walks down the street. It's a street in a strange world. Maybe it's the third world. Maybe it's his first time around. He doesn't speak the language. He holds no currency. He is a foreign man. He is surrounded by the sound, sound of cattle in the marketplace, scatterlings and orphanages. He looks around, around he sees angels in the architecture spinning in infinity and he says, "Amen" and "Hallelujah!

Medicine is magical and magical is art, the boy in the bubble, and the baby with the baboon heart.

The degree of customization possible through your Preferences screens is awesome.

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.

As long as you have capital punishment there is no guarantee that innocent people won't be put to death.

I regret the ending of our friendship and hope one day before we die, we'll make peace with each other ... No rush.

Big box just wasn't our strength. We are a men's and boy's specialty store focused on providing high quality clothing with custom tailoring. Our customer is king. When we had seven stores, communication between the stores and with our customers became more disconnected. We started to lose that great family 'camaraderie' that is essentially the key to our success.

And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow.

I've got nothing to do today but smile.

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

I lived in an attached house. My father used to drive into the wrong driveway all the time. He'd say, Damn it, how do you tell one of these houses from another?

And all the people said 'What a shame that he's dead, but wasn't he a most peculiar man?

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.

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

Have a good time"
Yesterday it was my birthday.
I hung one more year on the line.
I should be depressed.
My life's a mess.
But I'm having a good time.
I've been loving and loving and loving.
I'm exhausted from loving so well
I should go to bed.
But a voice in my head says,
"Ah, what the hell

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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.

And you read your emily dickinson,
And I my robert frost.
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what weve lost.

Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes

They've got a wall in China, it's a thousand miles long. To keep out the foreigners, they made it strong. And I've got a wall around me, you can't even see.

The trick is, as I know it, is to care like hell
and not give a damn at the same time.

Lord, I am a surgeon and music is my knife. It cuts away my sorrow and purifies my life.

My voice is my improvisational instrument, the melody instrument. The guitar is harmonic structure. I'm not a good enough guitarist to improvise on it.

Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts.

Listen to the sound of silence.

Kodachrome, it gives us those nice bright colors
Gives us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph
So momma, don't take my Kodachrome away ...

I was eating in a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called Mother and Child Reunion. It's chicken and eggs. And I said, I gotta use that one.

I like them all ... They're all pictures of me when I wrote them ... I have no favorite songs.

Mrs. Robinson is a little dated now, but it has nothing to do with Joe DiMaggio.

I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone, Going home, where the new york city winters aren't bleedin' me.

I don't feel any pressure from fans. But I'm always in some kind of state of emotional turmoil. I would not describe myself as happy-go-lucky. That's not to say that I'm not happy.

I feel I should try to reveal. When you hit it right, you produce an emotional response in the listener that can be cathartic. When you're wrong, you're soppy, sentimental.

I question what emotion Manilow touches. People are entertained by him. But are they emotionally moved? I don't believe anything that Barry Manilow sings.

Having a track record to live up to and the history of successes had become a hindrance. It becomes harder to break out of what people expect you to do.

Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on.

You want to be a writer, don't know how or when? Find a quiet place, use a humble pen.

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.

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

Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon grave yard.

I have my books and poetry to protect me

Two times two is twenty-two, four times four is forty-four. When numbers get serious, they leave a mark on your door.

I met my old lover on the street last night, she seemed glad to see me.

Time it was And what a time it was, it was A time of innocence A time of confidences Long ago it must be I have a photograph Preserve your memories They're all that's left you

Life I love you, all is groovy.

One of the things that upset me was some of the criticism leveled at Simon and Garfunkel. I always took exception to it, but actually I agree with a lot of it.

I sort of recognize it, as opposed to shaping it. Oh, that's a good idea, that's a good line. I wonder where I can use that. And when you get into a rhyme group like 'not,' you got a lot of rhymes, you got a lot of choices. The more you do it, the luckier you get.

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

I'm more interested in what I discover than what I invent.

Most of the time, the songs have jokes in them, little sarcastic things, or purposely kitsch or something. So that's going along with a story, like I do in life, just talking to myself and making fun of stuff and laughing at stuff that's serious. And sometimes it's a good idea to put the laughing into the songs. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's all right just to be serious. But most of the songs have some kind of joke in them.

A fundamental requirement, overriding any other for this job, is an understanding of deafness-what it is and how it affects the educational experience.

Breakdowns come, and breakdowns go.

* She said, why don't we both just sleep on it tonight
And I believe, in the morning you'll begin to see the light
And then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover, fifty ways to leave your lover
Paul Simon, Still Crazy After All These Years (1975), 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
First thing I remember when you came into my life
I said I wanna get that girl, no matter what I do
Well I guess I've been in love before and once or twice have been on the floor
But I've never loved no-one the way that I love you.

All God requires from us is to enjoy life and love. That's the whole point.

I don't know what I'm going to write when I begin to write. It feels like you are walking down a path, but you can't see around the bend and you don't know where you are going to go, which is fun.

How much can you do with two voices? You can sing thirds or you can sing fifths or you can do a background harmony.

Maybe I think too much for my own good.

Somewhere in a burst of glory / Sound becomes a song.

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 always get very calm with baseball.

There is a moment, a chip in time, when leaving home is the lesser crime.

Instead of thinking in terms of chords, I think of voice-leading; that is, melody line and bass line, and where the bass line goes. If you do that, you'll have the right chord. [These voices] will give you some alternatives, and you can play those different alternatives to hear which one suits your ear ... Keep the bass line moving so you don't stay in one spot: if you have an interesting bass line and you roll it against the melody, the chords are going to come out right.

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again.

A phenomenon occurs but because you're in the middle of it, you just think it's your life-until it's over. And then you look back and say, What an unusual thing happened to me in the '60s.

By the time I was 12 or 13, I felt that I was special, because I could play the guitar and write songs.

A songwriter's supreme challenge is being complex and simple at the same time

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.

Anthony Heilbut has been a guide and a mentor to me. I know of no one who has the love and depth of knowledge of this extraordinary author.

Sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.

Couple in the next room bound to win a prize, they've been going at it all night long.

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover.

She said a good day ain't got no rain
She said a bad day is when I lie in the bed
And I think of things that might have been

I just said, you know, this is a great track but this lyric, I don't believe it. It sounds like I'm trying to say something, instead of it naturally coming out of me, like I was saying something that I already knew. Anyway, I can't remember what it was. And either I threw it all out or I threw 90 percent of it out, and kept a line or two. That's happened a couple of times to me. Not too often, but a couple of times. Very aggravating when it does happen.

The public hungers to see talented young people kill themselves.

I know a man
He came from my home town
He wore his passion for his woman
Like a thorny crown
He said Dolores
I live in fear
My love for you's so overpowering
I'm afraid that I will disappear

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.

How can you live in the Northeast?

My whole artistic life has always been about change, change, change, move on, move on. It's the only thing I find interesting.

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.

Although I was able to study music with teachers, I never studied lyric writing. I read poetry, and I read other lyricists. But they were never writing in the style or the form that I was interested in.

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

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

The abstract music is just more interesting because it doesn't really have anything to say, but if it is good, it creates thoughts and feelings, and I enjoy that. For me, once the music creates those thoughts and feelings, I begin to write a song about it.

I don't think [Dylan and the Beatles] influenced me a lot. I think it was inevitable; they were so powerful that you couldn't really escape the influence.

The phrasing didn't work as well.

The students of Gallaudet have sent a powerful message across this country!