Eric Clapton Quotes

Every time you pick up your guitar to play, play as if it's the last time.

My driving philosophy about making music is that you can reduce it all down to one note if that note is played with the right kind of sincerity.

Risk is trying to control something you are powerless over.

Music survives everything, and like God, it is always present. It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance.

It's been up to me to inspire me.

One of the most beneficial things I've ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut.

My selective memory of what drinking was like told me that standing at the bar in a pub, on a summer's evening with a long, tall glass of lager and lime was heaven, and I chose not to remember the nights on which I had sat with a bottle of vodka, a gram of coke and a shotgun, contemplating suicide.

All along this path I tread, my heart betrays my weary head, with nothing but my love to save, from the cradle to the grave.

Music became a healer for me. And I learned to listen with all my being. I found that it could wipe away all fear and confusion.

When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realize that someone has to tend to the tradition. I recognize that I have some responsibility to keep the music alive, and it's a pretty honorable position to be in.

For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.

There are people these days who can do things on the guitar which are beyond my reach. There's one guy who plays with Queen who can do things I would dream of doing. I sincerely mean that.

Whatever your standing in life, the most important thing is behaving in ways that help other people. It's the same with music. I am a servant of the music ... and if I get caught up in ego, I'll lose everything .. it'll burn and that's a guarantee.

Would you know my name, if I saw you in Heaven?

I have always been resistant to doctrine, and any spirituality I had experienced thus far in my life had been much more abstract and not aligned with any recognized religion. For me, the most trustworthy vehicle for spirituality had always proven to be music. It cannot be manipulated, or politicized, and when it is, that becomes immediately obvious.

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.

But the guitar, when you think about it, is the most versatile, really. I mean you can pick it up and take it with you wherever you go.

In my lowest moments, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink any more if I was dead.

I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men.

I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there.

I admire Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather, but they might blow me away quite easily if we were to jam together.

I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him.

I'm an egomaniac with an inferiority complex.

Give me a guitar and I'll play; give me a stage and I'll perform; give me an auditorium and I'll fill it.

Our love will rule in this kingdom we have made.

I don't know if I believe in luck. I think I'm very fortunate.

Oh yeah, I mean, it wasn't a very good guitar, most good guitars have got thrust rods in the necks that you can adjust or that'll keep them in shape, you know keep them straight. This one just, well it turned into a bow and arrow after a couple of months.

I am, and always will be, a blues guitarist.

I did play a lot of fingerstyle when I first started playing. I could never really find the right combination of flatpick or fingerpick, so playing fingerstyle is really the easiest way - though it's quite strenuous on the fingertips.

Musically, he was like an old man in a boy's skin.

Although they can do it all the time, you know, they're far better than me, on a musically, on a theoretical music level. You know, they're out of my league.

From the beginning, I knew intuitively that if nothing else, music was safe, and that nobody could tell me anything about it. Music didn't need a middleman, whereas all the other things in school needed some kind of explanation.

My definition of Blues is that it's a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it's the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don't do it.

You can't mastermind everything. You'll go crazy. Just show up and play.

When I'm wrong it's never meant for you, so don't confuse my love with what I do.

Music became a healer for me.

Having lovers and friends is all good and fine But I don't like yours and you don't like mine.

Plant your love and let it grow.

I feel wonderful because I see the love light in your eyes, and the wonder of it all is you just don't realize how much I love you.

Well, I think part of my gift, or if I have one, is that I love listening.

Music will always find its way to us, with or without business, politics, religion, or any other bullshit attached.

If you hand me a guitar, I'll play the blues. That's the place I automatically go.

When I saw Jimi Hendrix I knew immediately that this guy was the real thing ... and when he played it was like a rough sketch of what he was going to become ... this guy was our generation, and he wasn't in a suit .. he played a Howlin' Wolf song 'Killing Floor', and then we (The Cream) had to carry on the set. It was pretty hard to follow.

[Unplugged] was also the cheapest to produce and required the least amount of preparation and work. But if you want to know what it actually cost me, go to Ripley and visit the grave of my son.

Would you know my name If I saw you in heaven Will it be the same If I saw you in heaven I must be strong, and carry on Cause I know I don't belong Here in heaven Would you hold my hand If I saw you in heaven Would you help me stand If I saw you in heaven I'll find my way, through night and day Cause I know I just can't stay Here in heaven

My identity shifted when I got into recovery. That's who I am now, and it actually gives me greater pleasure to have that identity than to be a musician or anything else, because it keeps me in a manageable size. When I'm down on the ground with my disease-which I'm happy to have-it gets me in tune. It gives me a spiritual anchor. Don't ask me to explain.

the thing about pessimism is that in most cases it's nothing more than a front behind which a body can hide its most sweetful yet painful hopes. please forgive mine.

I like solitude. I like the anomalous life. I like a quiet life.

The point of being at home is to be with my family as much as possible.

Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I'd rather lie around. No contest.