Costello Quotes

As a singer, you can't hear what's coming out of your throat; you're only hearing it from the inside, so you need a trusted person who knows how your voice works. It's like a car. You take it to the same mechanic because they know it inside out, and every time you get it back, it works fantastic. ~ Stephen Costello

When you decide to be something, you can be it. That's what they don't tell you in the church. When I was your age, they would say we can become cops or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference? ~ Frank Costello

There are some nights when you've spent so long analysing things that all that's left to do is get drunk. ~ Jane Costello

Oh I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused. But since their wings have got rusted, you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes. ~ Elvis Costello

Other kids are brought up nice and sent to Harvard and Yale. Me? I was brought up like a mushroom. ~ Frank Costello

Those days she was just a beautiful girl, now she's framed and hung up. ~ Elvis Costello

You've got a chemistry class; I want a piece of your mind;
You don't know what you started when you mixed it up with mine ... ~ Elvis Costello

Living a very long time would be a very scary thing. ~ Elvis Costello

Nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen. More Nothing. The Return of Nothing. Son of Nothing. Nothing Rides Again. Nothing and Abbot and Costello meet the Wolfman ... ~ Neil Gaiman

A basic premise of restorative practices is that the increasingly inappropriate behavior in schools is a direct consequence of the overall loss of connectedness in our society. By fostering inclusion, community, accountability, responsibility, support, nurturing and cooperation, circles restore these qualities to a community or classroom and facilitate the development of character. As a consequence of fostering relationships and a sense of belonging, academic performance, too, flourishes. ~ Bob Costello

As for music, my tastes are eclectic. Elvis Costello is my all-time favorite. I listen to a lot of jazz, primarily the great female vocalists, and I am very fond of the late cabaret singer Nancy Lamott. ~ Laura Lippman

Our system of government is one of checks and balances. It requires compromise.. compromise between the Executive and the Parliament, compromise between one House and another, compromise between the States and the Commonwealth and compromise between groups of persons with legitimate interests and other groups with other legitimate interests. There is room for compromise.. indeed demand for it.. in a system of checks and balances. ~ Peter Costello

During the Cold War of the 1950s, American spies were issued eyeglasses with thick, clunky frames. If captured, they were trained to casually chew the curved earpieces, where fatal doses of cyanide were cast inside the plastic. It's these same horn-rimmed suicide glasses, the wrangler says, that inspired the look of Buddy Holly and Elvis Costello. All those young hipsters wearing death on their nose. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who'd talk.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it's the way that you walk. ~ Elvis Costello

Amtrak is extremely important to the economy of Southern Illinois and I will continue to work with state and local leaders and my colleagues in Congress to secure the necessary funding to maintain full service. ~ Jerry Costello

Well there's a line that you must toe and it'll soon be time to go but it's darker than you know in those Complicated Shadows ~ Elvis Costello

This Nation has realized significant environmental improvements over the last three decades. ~ Jerry Costello

There are five things to write songs about: I'm leaving you. You're leaving me. I want you. You don't want me. I believe in something. Five subjects, and 12 notes. For all that, we musicians do pretty well. ~ Elvis Costello

We've confused the cost of lifestyle with the cost of living. We've lost our perspective. ~ Tim Costello

Your skin isn't paper, don't cut it. Do what I did, find something you love, and let that make you bleed ~ Ashley Costello

Dealing with sketch comedy and buddy teams like Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby - I just loved buddy comedies. ~ Drake Bell

Oh, I know that she's disgusted,
cause she's feeling so abused.
She gets tired of the lust,
but it's so hard to refuse. ~ Elvis Costello

Smokey Robinson writes the heartfelt songs, whereas it was my job to write the songs about weakness and failure in love. ~ Elvis Costello

People are going to see both of us and think it's an Abbott and Costello kind of thing. It's not an easy switch. It's not an easy transition from TV to film. ~ Ray Romano

In addition to the clean coal provisions, the energy conference agreement contains provisions instrumental in helping increase conservation and lowering consumption. ~ Jerry Costello

The stuff I write I'm very proud of, but I'm smart enough to know I'll never get on the cover of 'Rolling Stone' next to Elvis Costello. ~ Dan Hill

I have always felt that the great lottery of life is unfair. The fact is that I was thrown up on the stage of life called Australia. You don't choose where you are thrown on to this stage. So universal health, universal education, of course plenty of food and clean water. ~ Tim Costello

Since September 11, 2001, many in this nation and this Congress have a deeper appreciation for the importance of the sacrifices made by our law enforcement officers. ~ Jerry Costello

I just got into it like a lot of people through the rock 'n' roll bands in the late '60s that turned to country music, like The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, but particularly through The Byrds because of Gram Parsons, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman (with their 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo). They kind of introduced English kids to Merle Haggard and George Jones and the Louvins (brothers Charlie and Ira). ~ Elvis Costello

The way you look I understand how you were not impressed, but I heard you let that little friend of mine take off your party dress. ~ Elvis Costello

Falling in love instantly is just not possible. You have to let someone grow on you ~ Jane Costello

Dear Hewitt Costello, Equerry, were daylighted with our outing and are looking backwards to our unearly summers ~ James Joyce

'Content' is a word that has never sat well with me. Like 'maturity'. They are two words I've never liked. I think they imply some sort of decay. A settling. ~ Elvis Costello

I found with this record I had to really be strong-willed, because in the past I've tended to tinker and add a thing or take a thing away, and nearly always been wrong. ~ Elvis Costello

You do have to be a bit careful with your voice. It is an instrument. ~ Elvis Costello

I've been here all the time; I could be putting out as many albums as Costello, y'know what I mean? ~ Shane MacGowan

I can write orchestrations, but I can't sight-read music and play at the same time. I don't have enough facility. ~ Elvis Costello

Train service is particularly vital for the students and employees of Southern Illinois University. ~ Jerry Costello

My mum was a big fan of E.L.O. and Elvis Costello. She used to play that, consistently, all the time when we were kids. And my dad, he would claim to be a singer ... You know, he loves singing, and he used to sing a lot when he was a kid and at parties and stuff like that. So I come from a very party-musical family. ~ James Vincent McMorrow

My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant. ~ Elvis Costello

It's a petty thing, but I wouldn't join the Scouts when I was a kid, 'cause you had to swear allegiance to the queen. I'm just not a royalist. I think it's idiotic, a hereditary principle. ~ Elvis Costello

[Commercial radio] is owned by one or two corporations now, and they're not in the music business. They're in the advertising business ... So let's not kid ourselves. If you want to hear music, go buy a guitar. ~ Elvis Costello

That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted. (Last words.) ~ Lou Costello

The ending of partition was inevitable because Ireland was one nation by history and tradition , by facts of race, geography, and economy ~ Seamus Costello

So Meyer Lansky was Hyman Roth? Was Marlon Brando Frank Costello? The confusion was compounded when quite serious newspapers started incorporating Godfather comparisons into their reporting on organized crime. ~ Robert Lacey

You need a platform upon which to release an orchestral record, otherwise it's just going to be an obscurity. ~ Elvis Costello

No one gives it to you. You have to take it. ~ Frank Costello

But there are things in Il Sogno that the methods of The Delivery Man could never achieve. ~ Elvis Costello

I'm a working travelling musician, but just on a bigger scale. ~ Elvis Costello

But you know, the longer you listen to this abortion debate, the more you hear this phrase "sanctity of life". You've heard that. Sanctity of life. You believe in it? Personally, I think it's a bunch of shit. Well, I mean, life is sacred? Who said so? God? Hey, if you read history, you realize that God is one of the leading causes of death. Has been for thousands of years. Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians all taking turns killing each other 'cause God told them it was a good idea. The sword of God, the blood of the land, vengeance is mine. Millions of dead motherfuckers. Millions of dead motherfuckers all because they gave the wrong answer to the God question. "You believe in God?" "No." Boom. Dead. "You believe in God?" "Yes." "You believe in my God? "No." Boom. Dead. "My God has a bigger dick than your God!" Thousands of years. Thousands of years, and all the best wars, too. The bloodiest, most brutal wars fought, all based on religious hatred. Which is fine with me. Hey, any time a bunch of holy people want to kill each other I'm a happy guy.

But don't be giving me all this shit about the sanctity of life. I mean, even if there were such a thing, I don't think it's something you can blame on God. No, you know where the sanctity of life came from? We made it up. You know why? 'Cause we're alive. Self-interest. Living people have a strong interest in promoting the idea that somehow life is sacred. You don't see Abbott and Costello running around, talking about th ~ George Carlin

Live your life,Imogen.Suck every bit of happiness out of it.You deserve it.We all do. ~ Jane Costello

Some people can't physically hear things. A kid that listens to Metallica or something can't hear that, because he's filled himself up with this stuff, he physically can't hear a banjo or a harp or something. ~ Elvis Costello

Serious music usually doesn't pay. ~ Elvis Costello

Don't get smart or sarcastic
He snaps back just like elastic
Spare us the theatrics and the verbal gymnastics
We break wise guys just like matchsticks ~ Elvis Costello

I'm goin' to take a little trip, down paradise's endless shores. They say that travel broadens the mind, till you can't get your head out of doors. ~ Elvis Costello

It was a real party of swells. ~ Elvis Costello

When you work with new people, I think that it throws all of the matters into relief, because you have to explain yourself every time. It's like crossing a new border. They want to see your documents. ~ Elvis Costello

The Internet is overrated. It's much smaller an innovation than people think it is. I don't think it's changed the way anybody makes music. ~ Elvis Costello

And obviously, when I started out, I had a little bit more curiosity than some, and went seeking out the original artists, or in some cases searching up country music. ~ Elvis Costello

You find actually over the years that you get attributed with a lot of things you didn't do and you don't get reported on a lot of things you did do and I must say, when I read some of these things I wonder where the journalists get them from. They generally speak to somebody who's spoken to somebody who was down the back of a pub who heard the barman say, and gradually finds its way into magazines or articles but no, that's not the case. ~ Peter Costello

You'll never be alone in the bone orchard. ~ Elvis Costello

I get very frustrated by this term 'genre exercise.' I mean, what exactly is that? Genre is not really relevant when you are writing a song; hopefully you are doing it to explore something, to create something, and I don't agree that any of my albums are genre exercises. ~ Elvis Costello

Well, I used to be disgusted.
Now I try to be amused. ~ Elvis Costello

My earliest childhood memories are of watching Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. I remember not liking Frankenstein then and going, "Who is this bald guy?" But I love it now. ~ Quentin Tarantino

I would love to hang out with Elvis Costello, to see what he's up to because he seems so fascinating to me. ~ Patrick Stump

I've been lucky to listen to lots of different types of music. ~ Elvis Costello

Nonsense prevails, modesty fails Grace and virtue turn into stupidity While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts They still think they're the gods of antiquity If something you missed didn't even exist It was just an ideal is it such a surprise? ~ Elvis Costello

I'm not going to get too sentimental, like those other sticker valentines, 'cause I don't know if you are loving some body. I only know it isn't mine. ~ Elvis Costello

The theme of exile is attractive to me, because it's sort of like the family business. Not just music, but travel. ~ Elvis Costello

And I'm up while the dawn is breaking, even though my heart is aching. I should be drinking a toast to absent friends instead of these comedians. ~ Elvis Costello

As I'm lying there at my funeral I would hope to hear somebody say, Look, he's still moving! ~ Peter Costello

Songs are more powerful than books. ~ Elvis Costello

I could promise that I'll always be true to you, but we may not live to be so old. ~ Elvis Costello

Don't start me talking
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right. ~ Elvis Costello

Abbott and Costello were huge for me as a very young person. ~ Tim Heidecker

A lot of people had to die for me to be me. ~ Frank Costello

This is not the kind of country where you would feel comfortable if you were opposed to democracy, parliamentary law, independent courts and so I would say to people who don't feel comfortable with those values there might be other countries where they'd feel more comfortable with their own values or beliefs ~ Peter Costello

I knew I was in trouble, but I thought I was in hell. ~ Elvis Costello

I started with rock n' roll and ... then you start to take it apart like a child with a toy and you see there's blues and there's country ... Then you go back from country into American music ... and you end up in Scotland and Ireland eventually. ~ Elvis Costello

I was always a fan of the old-style comics. I loved vaudeville. I loved Milton Berle, Dick Shawn, Phyllis Diller, Don Rickles, Charlie Callas, all those guys. Hilarious. I love the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope movies, and Abbott & Costello. My television influences were 'Monty Python's Flying Circus,' 'Benny Hill,' and 'Hee Haw.' ~ Larry The Cable Guy

There was not a lot of rock n' roll in the house. Our parents didn't think it was very groovy, and I tend to agree with them. If you grew up with Charlie Parker, Bill Haley wasn't very hip. ~ Elvis Costello

And over the last ten years, after my work with the Brodsky Quartet, I had the opportunity to write arrangements for chamber group, chamber orchestra, jazz orchestra, symphony orchestra even. ~ Elvis Costello

Don't tell me you don't know what love is When you're old enough to know better. ~ Elvis Costello

We would all prefer to see much further ahead. We want the road map and to know the short cuts. But usually we only have enough light for the next step. To get anywhere we must take that. ~ Tim Costello

I auditioned for 'West Side Story' and got the part of Tony, but wasn't allowed to do it. They needed me to play trumpet. But I was glad, in the end, because I learned a lot about playing that score. ~ Stephen Costello

Funny, now I can see, how looks can be deceiving. ~ Elvis Costello

Jobs are disappearing from every sector of the economy, from engineering to health care workers, forcing hundreds of thousands of families into unemployment and low-paying jobs. ~ Jerry Costello

Life for me is about movement. ~ Elvis Costello

You know in politics you are dealing in the realm of choices. You don't always have clear-cut decision between a thoroughly principled position and a thoroughly unprincipled one. You're making snap decisions with paucity of information, generally trying to do the best that you can, but you will make errors, and sometimes it's a decision between a bad and a worse alternative. It has to be done, because we need to order our society, and of politics it can literally be said: Bad job, but someone's got to do it. ~ Peter Costello

Your mind is made up but your mouth is undone. ~ Elvis Costello

And I don't feel any form of music is beyond me in the sense of that I don't understand it or I don't have some love for some part of it. ~ Elvis Costello

Every day more Americans watch their jobs being shipped overseas. ~ Jerry Costello

Christine O'Donnell: I think especially in such an unstable economic environment, what people criticized him for in 2008 his consistency , the fact that he was so strong , and I think people will find that appealing going into the 2012. Carol Costello: Well, some people say Mitt Romney isn't the most consistent candidate, because he's changed his minds about big, important issues over the years. Christine O'Donnell: You know, that's one of the things that I like about him because he's been consistent since he changed his mind. ~ Christine O'Donnell

Oh, well, that's not bad, I suppose. I mean, I'd prefer devastatingly sophisticated - but almost endearing is more than I could have hoped for under the circumstances. ~ Jane Costello

In the tiny torn up pieces of his mind he's irresistible too. ~ Elvis Costello

The only two things that motivate me and that matter to me are revenge
and guilt. ~ Elvis Costello

because I am the king of this world. That's right, Costello.' He stood once again, 'I was once the master and lord supreme of this dominion. These people are my people. The lonely virgins living in their moms' basement who never read a conspiracy theory they didn't believe, and who never saw a corpse within 25 miles of the Beltway that died of natural causes - they are,' and here McNamara raised his arms aloft, in the manner of a TV Evangelist, to mimic a Southern preachers accent, 'my people. ~ Sam Bourne

We're all gonna die, let's act accordingly. ~ Frank Costello

There are many critics who have an idealised version of where my strengths lie. ~ Elvis Costello

You swore you wouldn't shout. If it's not your punch, then it's your pout. ~ Elvis Costello