James Taylor Quotes

Music is like a huge release of tension. ~ James Taylor

James Taylor and God are the reasons I play music. ~ Garth Brooks

Being on a boat that's moving through the water, it's so clear. Everything falls into place in terms of what's important and what's not. ~ James Taylor

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. ~ James Taylor

I don't play the kind of music that works in a football stadium. ~ James Taylor

She would talk of castles and princesses and a woman named Scheherazade who had a thousand and one stories to tell. Shadow loved it when Emma told him her dreams. With her little warm fingers, Emma stroked his head as if he were but a puppy with all the strength of his youth yet to come, for the greatest joy in life is the conviction that we are loved in spite of ourselves. His legs may have been faded yellow but Shadow knew that he was loved by Theo's daughter. ~ Steven James Taylor

It's a real wrenching thing to go from being a private person to being a public person, especially when you're being autobiographical. ~ James Taylor

They kissed and hugged and played roughhouse. Whenever love was mentioned, roughhouse was generally forthcoming, at least as far as Shadow could tell. ~ Steven James Taylor

Once you get that two-way energy thing going, everyone benefits hugely. ~ James Taylor

If you're an addict, it controls your life and your life becomes uncontrollable. It's boring and painful, filling your system with something that makes you stare at your shoes for six hours. ~ James Taylor

Though 'Fire and Rain' is very personal, for other people it resonates as a sort of commonly held experience ... And that's what happens with me. I write things for personal reasons, and then in some cases it ... can be a shared experience. ~ James Taylor

What I've always done as an entertainer is try to come up with things that people will find interesting, or compelling, or humorous. ~ James Taylor

I gathered up my sorrows and I sold them all for gold. And I gathered up the gold, and I threw it all away. ~ James Taylor

In Highland New Guinea, now Popua New Guinea, a British district officer named James Taylor contacted a mountain village, above three thousand feet, whose tribe had never seen any trace of the outside world. It was the 1930s. He described the courage of one villager. One day, on the airstrip hacked from the mountains near his village, this man cut vines and lashed himself to the fuselage of Taylor's airplane shortly before it took off. He explained calmly to his loved ones that, no matter what happened to him, he had to see where it came from. ~ Annie Dillard

I've seen fire and I've seen rain I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend But I always thought that I'd see you again. ~ James Taylor

I told you that I love you, I was only telling a lie. I'll be long gone come the crack of dawn and I believe the word is goodbye. ~ James Taylor

The Beatles were a phenomenon, but they were also ordinary blokes like anyone else. I was lucky enough to see that side. ~ James Taylor

James Taylor may be an all-American boy but he isn't Horatio Alger, and the lionizing of many rock stars by the rock press has as much to do with old fashioned rags-to-riches stories as does the straight culture's deification of its idols. ~ Jon Landau

I write heavily under the influence of James Taylor. ~ Carole King

The report falsely asserts that global warming is causing more extreme weather events, more droughts, more record high temperatures, more wildfires, warmer winters, etc., when each and every one of these false assertions is contradicted by objective, verifiable evidence. ~ James Taylor

The best thing is when you hear somebody take your song and make something great of it. ~ James Taylor

I tend to write out the first iteration of a lyric here and then go over here and make variations on it, on the page opposite. ~ James Taylor

I sometimes wonder how many of these lifetime achievement awards you can accept before you have to do the decent thing and die. ~ James Taylor

Music is my living. I enjoy selling my music. ~ James Taylor

Liz [Gillies] doesn't really listen to anything new, besides Adele, Ariana Grande, and stuff like that. She loves '70s music and old '60s songs. She loves songwriters from the '70s that I hate, like Jim Croce and James Taylor, and she loves Stevie Nicks and old jazz classics. ~ Denis Leary

Within my heart is carved a sculpture of your love. ~ James Taylor

It was like the top of the roof came off the house, .. He had that effect on everyone. ~ James Taylor

Whenever I see your smiling face, I have to smile myself, because I love you, yes I do. ~ James Taylor

I think that we're all totally isolated beings and always will be. ~ James Taylor

He's the reason why I write music. If he's reading this - James Taylor, I'd love to work with you! My mom would put headphones on her belly before I was born, so I've been listening to him literally all of my life. When my dad played me 'Walking Man,' I heard those chord changes and that melody, it completely blew me away. ~ Charlie Puth

I was signed to A&M, I was signed to Lou Adler, who had a company within a company, which was A&M Records, and everything - James Taylor, Rita Coolidge, Carole King - I worked on all of that stuff. ~ Merry Clayton

Synchronized with the rising moon Even with the evening star They were true love written in stone They were never alone, they were never that far apart ~ James Taylor

Time will take your money, but money won't buy time. ~ James Taylor

'Gorilla Man' is a composite of a few individuals, but the song itself was actually inspired by James Taylor. I spied his 'Gorilla' album laying on my floor and in some altered state, instantly started singing the chorus. It was fun to write. There's an old notebook with at least three more verses in it somewhere. ~ Caitlin Rose

I think people are isolated because of the nature of human consciousness, and they like it when they feel the connection between themselves and someone else. ~ James Taylor

They drove through the small town. Theo could see little through the windshield, but his senses were alive. The three of them - the beater, the boy, and the dog - said nothing all the way home, anchored in the weight of their terrible love. ~ Steven James Taylor

Certain things in life are more important than the usual crap that everyone strives for. ~ James Taylor

If the gig's going really well, I'm incredibly happy on stage and really feel good about my life and things. ~ James Taylor

Do me wrong, do me right, tell me lies, but hold me tight. ~ James Taylor

We could never have guessed
We were already blessed
where we are ... ~ James Taylor

For some, being a vet was a means to make a living. For Theo, helping animals was a photo of his soul, the coat of his will. ~ Steven James Taylor

Songs are like myths. Myths are useful because they allow you to cast yourself and your life and your own experience. And for some people, 'Fire and Rain' speaks to them in that way. ~ James Taylor

When Annunziata said she loved me or any of her thousands of other friends and beloveds, she was really saying, at least in my mind, "God loves you." To quote the singer/songwriter James Taylor, she showered the people she loved with love, always showing the way that she felt without holding back. Even as her body could barely contain her soul any longer, she'd open wide the gates of herself with a smile, that giggle, her twinkling eyes, and she'd let the supernatural love flow through her. Walking out of the chapel after her funeral, a woman I'd never seen before stopped me and said, "You're Cathleen, aren't you?" "Yes," I croaked, tears rolling off my nose as I fingered the prayer card with Annunziata's picture on it. Slipping an arm around my shoulders, the woman explained that she was one of Annunziata's former students and said, "She loved you so much." I know. ~ Cathleen Falsani

I had a very moral upbringing, and spiritual in a sort of not very specific way. ~ James Taylor

In the beginning, there was a kind of energy that - like an urgency to express myself, and the songs just couldn't be held in. But I think it changes, the nature of how that - what that energy is. And I need to court the muse in a much more serious way. ~ James Taylor

Walk with me. Walk with me, buddy. ~ Steven James Taylor

People have used my songs and guitar style to teach guitar for a long time. ~ James Taylor

I'm a little old-fashioned - I like it when the man opens the door and I like it when a man pays for me. I particularly like it when they pay for dinner or whatever, because I've pretty much done the opposite, but for the exception of James [Taylor], where we split everything down the middle. I've been the larger money earner in practically all of my relationships. There's equality and there are positive differences, which are complimentary. ~ Carly Simon

I enjoy selling my music. I don't enjoy selling myself. ~ James Taylor

Theo was struck by his dog, even in death. For while Theo was away at school or sleeping or distracted, Shadow, well, Shadow was still out there in the neighborhood, making friends. ~ Steven James Taylor

I don't get into heavy political numbers because I don't find them lyrical. ~ James Taylor

I believe musicians have a duty, a responsibility to reach out, to share your love or pain with others. ~ James Taylor

My dad is a huge folk music fan, so growing up, there were always records playing in my house. Carole King, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles - I grew up with this music, and I was aware of how special this music was to a lot of people. ~ Jake Epstein

I started playing guitar and writing songs when I was 15. I think what mainly sparked my interest was just the fact that I grew up listening to Cheryl King, Joni Mitchell, and James Taylor, and was just always inspired by that sort of organic art, and organic songs and just very natural songwriting that came out of some of those artists. ~ Kate Voegele

I'm glad that I still have the ability to tour in Europe. I do love it. ~ James Taylor

In my mind I'm going to Carolina. Can't you see the sunshine, can't you just feel the moonshine? Ain't it just like a friend of mine, to hit me from behind, and I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind. ~ James Taylor

Taylor was named after James Taylor and claims that she knows all the James Taylor songs, and I'm a huge fan of James Taylor and know all his songs, too. My dad told me that if I ever met Taylor Swift, I had to tell her that I know every James Taylor song. We started naming albums, and we were both shouting them out. ~ Charlie Puth

Every thought you have, every move you make, is like a pebble dropped into water, Theo. It continues to make ripples. That's why it is so important your rhythms be true to life's Spirit. For in that way, your future will always rest in compassion. For such is life's Spirit. It is the spirit of compassion. May this office and your cadence thrum with the kindness of your holy hands, Dr. Snow. ~ Steven James Taylor

Creativity is the process that gives life to a new product. ~ James Taylor

Karen, she's a silver sun. You best walk her way and watch it shining...watch her watch the morning come. ~ James Taylor

But it's only after you've played it on the road 20 or 30 times that it becomes really finished and polished ... and you realize what it means, and you get the phrasing right. ~ James Taylor

I know now one thing only matters in these days ... true love ... love and love alone. ~ James Taylor

Songwriting is too mysterious and uncontrolled a process for me to direct it towards any one thing. ~ James Taylor

Won't you look down upon me Jesus, you've got to help me make a stand. You just got to see me through another day. ~ James Taylor

I'm very unstable; there's no stability in a musician's life at all. You live on a bus or on the road hand to mouth and you don't know where your money's coming from. ~ James Taylor

I believe 100 percent in the power and importance of music. ~ James Taylor

Must love decorating for holidays, mischief, kissing in cars, and wind chimes. No specific height, weight, hair color, or political affiliation required but would prefer a warm spirited non racist. Cynics, critics, pessimists, and "stick in the muds" need not apply. Voluptuous figures a plus. Any similarity in look, mind set, or fashion sense to Mary Poppins, Claire Huxtable, Snow White, or Elvira wholeheartedly welcomed. I am dubious of actresses, fellons and lesbians but dont want to rule them out entirely. Must be tolerant of whistling, tickle torture, James Taylor, and sleeping late. I have a slight limp, eerily soft hands, and a preternatural love of autumn. I once misinterpreted being called a coal-eyed dandy as a compliment when it was intended as an insult. I wiggle my feet in my sleep, am scared of the dark, and think the Muppets Christmas Carol is one of the greatest films of all time. All I want is butterfly kisses in the morning, peanut butter sandwiches shaped like a heart, and to make you smile until it hurts. ~ Matthew Grey Gubler

It is impossible to stop cadence. A bell rings long after the clapper hits the cup. ~ Steven James Taylor

Probably my favorite artists to listen to James Taylor, Stevie Wonder - I haven't gone back in a really long time and really listened to them - my first guitar influences. It's been awhile since I revisited that. ~ Jonny Lang

You have to ask for it," Theo told Shadow. "Magic doesn't come unless it's summoned. ~ Steven James Taylor

I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself. ~ James Taylor

I think there's probably a God-shaped hole in everybody's being. Even if God only exists in people's minds, He's still a force. ~ James Taylor

Things started to get out of control when I began reading that I was a superstar. ~ James Taylor

Turn away from your animal kind, try to leave your body, just to live in your mind. ~ James Taylor

You can bring your enemies to their knees with the possible exception of the North Vietnamese. ~ James Taylor

It is a process of discovery. It's being quiet enough and undisturbed enough for a period of time so that the songs can begin to sort of peek out, and you begin to have emotional experiences in a musical way. ~ James Taylor

Have you ever walked with your dog on a summer's morning on the seashore? Or walked with him on an autumn's afternoon when the leaves are in full color?"
Inevitably, the client would say yes.
"And did it sometimes feel that all of Nature was your own room? That you could be there forever?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's what dogs do. They destroy time. ~ Steven James Taylor

James Taylor is the kind of person I always thought the word 'folksinger' referred to. He writes and sings songs that are reflections of his own life, and performs in them in his own style. All of his performances are marked by an eloquent simplicity. ~ Jon Landau

When I was 17 I got a guitar for my birthday and started discovering Bob Dylan and James Taylor and the whole '60s thing, and that made me want to make songs, to go beyond just playing an instrument. I needed to write I guess. ~ Jason Reeves

That's the motivation of an artist - to seek attention of some kind. ~ James Taylor

Master the dog, and in so doing you shall master yourself. ~ Steven James Taylor

I can't thank you enough for showing up. It's not the same without you. ~ James Taylor

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have made a lot of difference to my audience that I'm as bald as a billiard ball! ~ James Taylor

What happened was, I always wanted to be a singer/songwriter kind of guy like a James Taylor or Crosby, Stills and Nash type of thing; I went to a lot of coffee houses and used to watch all those guys, but I never had the nerve to get up and do it because singing seems so personal and intimate to me. It was too revealing. ~ Kevin Nealon

When Theo would laugh or guffaw beneath the spreading canopy of Red, Shadow knew he had accomplished his job. The gray mask of civilization had fallen from the boy. Death left his eyes. Blood returned to his cheeks. There was song in his voice. Together, dog and master were once again in the huff and roar of the natural, bliss-filled world. They played ball, Shadow fetched rope, and, weather permitting, they swam in the sea. They proved once more what the ancients knew in the magical first world - that there was peace in play. ~ Steven James Taylor

His sickness had opened like a murderous bloom within, capturing his legs, his neck, and his head in its petals. He had come into Nature's immense room, which held his final season. ~ Steven James Taylor

I've written a number of songs over the years and it's a big part of my life, this sort of tension between a longing for home and the call for the open road. It's sort of like a tug between two families. I even love to miss my home. ~ James Taylor

Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground ~ James Taylor

The King of Sea and Sky was proud of Theo's mastery. Being a novice was safe. When you are learning how to do something, you do not have to worry about whether or not you are good at it. But when you have done something, have learned how to do it again, you are not safe anymore. Being a master opens you up to judgment. ~ Steven James Taylor

They can also be as manipulative as a James Taylor song. Sure, they're calming and bring you to a good place-but at their core, the whole goal of the damn thing is to undo you. ~ Brad Meltzer

Shadow could not understand about the war games that humans played. When they roughhoused, they killed each other. Why can't they just roughhouse like dogs, and when they are through, walk away? ~ Steven James Taylor

I collect hats. That's what you do when you're bald. ~ James Taylor

Knowing when to quit is probably a very important thing, but I just am not ready. ~ James Taylor

I can't think of any punk who's put on an acoustic and hasn't just tried to sound like James Taylor. ~ Buzz Osborne

I wanted to perform, I wanted to write songs, and I wanted to get lots of chicks. ~ James Taylor

I really love all types of music. I'm really open to that. I really love Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake and some James Taylor and Elton John stuff. ~ Hailee Steinfeld

One of my earliest memories was me singing 'Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin' at the top of my voice when I was seven. I got totally carried away. My grandmother, Sarah, was in the next room. I didn't even realise she was there. I was terribly embarrassed. ~ James Taylor

Bruce Springsteen's a rock star. Elton John is a rock star. I'm a folk musician. Honestly, I think that's true. ~ James Taylor

I played the cello from when I was ten, and then I bought a guitar from the father of some friends of mine and played that for a while. And then when I was fourteen or so, I bought a guitar - a real nice one - in Durham, North Carolina, that I worked with up until I was about twenty-five. ~ James Taylor

I have insanely dorky taste. Basically, if you're a woman, and you're under any kind of emotional duress, and you sing a song, I will listen to it forever. It's odd being a 37-year-old heterosexual male who owns nothing but Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos. But I'll go against that at first and play something boring like James Taylor. ~ Matthew Perry