Paul Simon Quotes

As soon as your mind knows that it's on and it's supposed to produce some lines, either it doesn't or it produces things that are very predictable. And that's why I say I'm not interested in writing something that I thought about. I'm interested in discovering where my mind wants to go, or what object it wants to pick up. ~ Paul Simon

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

I love Radiohead, which most people don't expect, and I listen to everything from Stevie Wonder to Steely Dan, Carole King, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, Beyonce Knowles, Vampire Weekend, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach, and Paul Simon. ~ Eliza Doolittle

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. ~ Paul Simon

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

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 ~ Paul Simon

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

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

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 ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

Breakdowns come, and breakdowns go. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

Artie is a singer, and I'm a writer and player and a singer. We didn't work together on a creative level and prepare the songs. I did that. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow. ~ Paul Simon

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

* 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. ~ Paul Simon

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

Far above the golden clouds, the darkness vibrates.
The earth is blue.
And everything about it is a love song. Everything about it. ~ Paul Simon

The leaves that are green turn to brown. And they wither with the wind. And they crumble in your hand. ~ Paul Simon

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

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. ~ Paul Simon

One of the disadvantages of poetry over popular music is that if you write a pop song, it naturally gets into people's heads as they listen in the car. You don't have to memorize a Paul Simon song; it's just in your head, and you can sing along. With a poem, you have to will yourself to memorize it. ~ Billy Collins

I'm more interested in what I discover than what I invent. ~ Paul Simon

You can burn down my churches. But I shall be free. ~ Paul Simon

Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo. ~ Paul Simon

I used to refer to my drug use as putting the monster in the box. I wanted to be less, so I took more - simple as that. Anyway, I eventually decided that the reason Dr. Stone had told me I was hypomanic was that he wanted to put me on medication instead of actually treating me. So I did the only rational thing I could do in the face of such as insult - I stopped talking to Stone, flew back to New York, and married Paul Simon a week later. ~ Carrie Fisher

I don't really like to write at a desk. I like to write when driving in a car ... Once you're working on it, you're working on it all the time, and sometimes stuff'll come in the middle of the night, in a dream or something. Your mind is working on it all the time. ~ Paul Simon

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

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

It's a big error to think that because you like somebody's work, you're going to like him. ~ Paul Simon

I was just reading about Paul Simon in 'Uncut', and it was fascinating. I never think about him much or think about his music or anything, but it's interesting to hear his ideas on stuff. ~ J Mascis

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

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

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. ~ Paul Simon

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

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

Life I love you, all is groovy. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

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

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

The phrasing didn't work as well. ~ Paul Simon

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 ... ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

People talking without speaking,/ People listening without hearing ... Sounds of Silence. ~ Paul Simon

I taught myself to play the guitar by listening to Paul Simon records, working it out note by note. He is an incredibly intelligent musician. He's not someone who has a natural outpouring of melody like McCartney or Dylan, who are just terribly prolific with musical ideas. ~ Douglas Adams

On Art Garfunkel - He makes Paul Simon look like LL Cool J. ~ Ian Gittins

I want to grow up with my audience. I don't expect to be getting through to the younger pop crowd. I learned that from Paul Simon. ~ Joe Strummer

Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on. ~ Paul Simon

The public hungers to see talented young people kill themselves. ~ Paul Simon

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

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. ~ Paul Simon

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

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover. ~ Paul Simon

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

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. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

Everything looks worse in black and white. ~ Paul Simon

One of the biggest obstacles I've overcome in my life was thinking I didn't deserve to be successful. Artistically I'm not as much of a heavyweight as someone like Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell, because I'm not a creator of original music, and I worried about that for years. ~ Bonnie Raitt

Sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears. ~ Paul Simon

Nor is it strange That after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same ~ Paul Simon

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

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. ~ Paul Simon

Then on to all the terrific american songwriters, from Tin Pan Alley to the Beatles, from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon. Whoever wrote and sang in the song form I have appreciated. ~ Tom Chapin

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. ~ Paul Simon

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die. ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

The course of a lifetime runs/over and over again ~ Paul Simon

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 ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

I always get very calm with baseball. ~ Paul Simon

I have my books and poetry to protect me ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

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

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?" ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon

When I first heard Elvis perform "Bridge Over Trouble Water" it was unbelivable,and I thought to myself, how the hell can I compete with that? ~ Paul Simon

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

Who am I to blow against the wind? ~ Paul Simon

You can't outrun the history train ~ Paul Simon

Take two bodies and you twirl them into one, their hearts and their bones, and they won't come undone. ~ Paul Simon

My parents listened to music in our house all the time when we were growing up. It was everything from Dolly Parton to Paul Simon ... We packed in everything. ~ Clare Bowen

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. ~ Paul Simon

Somewhere in a burst of glory / Sound becomes a song. ~ Paul Simon

Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts. ~ Paul Simon

Paul Simon is my absolute hero. He's one of a kind. He wrote his own ticket in life by being himself. ~ Brett Dennen

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

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

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

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? ~ Paul Simon

Illinois Senator Paul Simon, once said "The test for a Supreme Court nominee is not where he stands on any one specific issue. The test is this: Will you use your power on the court to restrict freedom or expand it"? ~ Dick Durbin

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

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

In those years, when I came to the States, people were always asking me why I didn't sing anymore. I'd tell them, 'I sing all around the world-Asia, Africa, Europe-but if you don't sing in the US, then you haven't really made it.' That's why I'll always be grateful to Paul Simon. He allowed me to bring my music back to my friends in this country. ~ Miriam Makeba

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! ~ Paul Simon

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. ~ Paul Simon