Paula Cole Quotes

The flower has opened, has been in the sun and is unafraid. I'm taking more chances; I'm bold and proud.

I like doing the crossword puzzle in the New York Times, not watching E! on TV.

Welcome to the church of me.

I like women who can throw a ball and laugh loud and have some spine, and I like men who don't mind cooking dinner.

I think of my shows as family reunions. I give 100% every time. I just do. It's a huge therapeutic release. Also I love my touring family. And I love my audiences very much.

I struggled with being in the public eye, losing my anonymity when my star rose quickly in the late 90's. But I need the challenge of showing up and getting up there to spill my guts and connect with my loyal folks.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Being a writer is a very private, internal process. Ultimately I am more the writer, being an introvert.

I'm used to adversity and working really well in difficult situations. It was hard for me to accept the success.

I think it's important to find the little things in everyday life that make you happy.

You make me feel like a candy apple, red and horny.

I was curious and hungry at a young age, and jazz was such a mystery to me, an ocean where you can express yourself in the moment. It represented freedom, it represented wearing wings and going somewhere with music.

And she is your holy Mary. And I am so ordinary.

People have become less discriminating listeners, which is tragic, really. There's a lot of emperor's new clothes out there, whether they're female or male solo acts. That bothers me. It's hard to break through, and it's like climbing Mount Everest if you actually do.

Our planet is a tiny atom in god's kingdom.

Didgeridoo was something I picked up while I was on tour in Australia with Peter Gabriel in '93. I found out later that it's only meant to be played by men.

Walking is magic. Can't recommend it highly enough. I read that Plato and Aristotle did much of their brilliant thinking together while ambulating. The movement, the meditation, the health of the blood pumping, and the rhythm of footsteps ... this is a primal way to connect with one's deeper self.

I wore Nietzsche's eyes. Now that I step back to see, I haven't been me.

But looking back, the fact was that I had a couple of big hits too quickly and it was simply too much for an introvert like me to handle.

I wanted to be a cheerleader, like my sister was - all the most popular and beautiful girls are cheerleaders and I wanted that, and it demolished this vision of myself. That's when I found the piano, when music saved me; that's when I first attempted to write my own songs.

I'm raising my daughter with her grandparents in the picture, and that feels good.

But at the age of 44, I sure hope to be a better businesswoman. I want to get the music straight to my fans.

So I'm writing more highly personalized and intellectual music, and I think that's good. It might take longer to find me, but I think that niche is perhaps underserved, so I'm going to serve that.

I'm still trying to find out who Paula Cole is. I always am - and I always will be - my real, inside self, which has no name.

The river was always there inside of me, but I was very shy. I could see that this was my path. I felt destiny in my own music.

The monsters are in your own head.

I am searching for the truth. Somewhere, it's in the music.

Feminists were psyched that I had armpit hair.

For me music is a vehicle to bring our pain to the surface, getting it back to that humble and tender spot where, with luck, it can lose its anger and become compassion again.

It's me who is my enemy
Me who beats me up
Me who makes the monsters
Me who strips my confidence.

I'm glad I made a piece of art that can be interpreted so widely. Art is always interpreted subjectively.