Paul Simon Quotations

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

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.

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

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.

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 try to open up my heart as much as I can and keep a real keen eye out that I don't get sentimental. I think we're all afraid to reveal our hearts. It's not at all in fashion.

The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenements halls and whispered in the sounds of silence.

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

Who am I to blow against the wind?

There's something about the sound of a train that's very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful.

Anybody can do bad work, but not everybody does good work.

If you can get humor and seriousness at the same time, you've created a special little thing, and that's what I'm looking for, because if you get pompous, you lose everything.

We've survived by believing our life is going to get better.

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

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

I think I have a superior brain and an inferior stature, if you really want to get brutal about it.

Why am I so soft in the middle when the rest of my life is so hard?

Without Arthur's voice, I never would have enjoyed that success.

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

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

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.

All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

I don't consider myself to be a major talent, so the only solace I can take is to hope I'm growing.

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.

My life so common it disappears and sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.

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

Facts can be turned into art if one is artful enough.

I don't think that Simon and Garfunkel as a live act compares to Simon and Garfunkel as a studio act.

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

I rate each album as better than the last one. That's how I see it.

The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains.

We were always able to sing and blend well together; that's our gift. But aside from that, we're really two different guys.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When we came into the studio I became more and more me, making the tracks and choosing the musicians, partly because a great deal of the time during Bridge, Artie wasn't there.

Improvisation is too good to leave to chance.

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.

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.

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

The record company stay out of my way. Whenever the record is finished, they take it.

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover.

We got on American Bandstand, where kids would dance to a record and then rate it. We called ourselves Tom and Jerry. I was Jerry.

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

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 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?

I suppose an artist takes the elements of his life and rearranges them and then has them perceived by others as though they were the elements of their lives.

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.

We had many more points of agreement than we had points of difference, but we did differ, and the bigger we got, the more insistent we got that each one of us should have his way.

We just did what we'd done when we were an act in the '60s. But I found it impossible to hold a dialogue with 500,000 people. In a certain sense, it was numbing.

A man sees what he wants to see, And disregards the rest.

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

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

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

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.

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.

I was greatly reassured that she was acting in the best interest of journalists and the public.

She looked me over and I guess she thought I was alright. Alright in a sort of limited way for an off-night.

She comes back to tell me she's gone. As if I didn't know that, as if I didn't know my own bed. As if I'd never noticed the way she brushed her hair from her forehead.

She was physically forgottenThen she slipped into my pocketWith my car keysShe said you've taken me for grantedBecause I please you

She says, maybe these emotions are as near to love as love will ever be.

I fall to my knees, shake a rattle at the sky, I'm afraid that I'll be taken, abandoned, and forsaken in her cold coffee eyes.

For those who thought it was going to be some kind of a snow job because it was paid for by the cable industry, it says very clearly we have to do a better job,

Hello lamp post, what ya knowin'? I come to watch your flowers growin'. Ain't you got no rhymes for me? do do do do... feelin' groovy.

It is not a deterrent. It is in a very real sense a revenge by society. ... Revenge is not a proper motivation by the government. Justice should be our aim. I think these recommendations ... will improve our system of justice,

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...

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...

Time, time, time, See what's become of me, While I look around all my possibilities

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

It's actually very difficult to make something both simple and good.

In the clearing stands the boxer, and a fighter by his trade. And he carries a reminder of every glove that laid him down... or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame "I am leaving! I am leaving" but the fighter still remains.

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.

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.

A lot of talent is a gift, but a lot is also luck. I'm very aware of that. I was born in the right place at the right time. I am also blessed because I've never been a sex symbol. I'm spared the embarrassment of acting young.

These are the days of miracle and wonder.

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......

Philip Larkin didn't write for several years before his life ended. And when he was asked why he didn't write, he said the muse deserted him. It sort of scared me. That's why I think I have no right to assume that some thought is going to come. ... But I think, in my imagination, if it is it, there will probably be something else I'm interested in.

When I look back at all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all.

And so you see I have come to doubt -All that I once held as true ~ I stand alone without beliefs -The only truth I know is you

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.

I've got nothing to do today but smile.

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

I'm always going forward toward something, and that something is usually an album, because I like to record. I probably like to record more than I like to write.

Life I love you, all is groovy.

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 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?"

Much of songwriting is simply a mystery.

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

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 get the news I need on the weather report And I have nothing to do today but smile

And a rock feels no pain; And an island never cries.

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

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.

Someone could walk into this room and say your life is on fire.

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

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

Given all the facts that I'm young and I'm in good health and I'm famous - that I have talent, I have money - given all these facts, I want to know why I'm so unhappy.

I have my books And my poetry to protect me; I am shielded in my armor, Hiding in my room, safe within my womb. I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock, I am an island.

Time, time, time, see what's become of me, While I looked around, For my possibilities; I was so hard to please