Paul Simon Quotes

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.

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

Improvisation is too good to leave to chance.

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.

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, if you need a friend I'm sailing right behind.

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.

Believing I had supernatural powers, I slammed into a brick wall.

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

I've got nothing to do today but smile.

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

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

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

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

These are the days of miracle and wonder.

No one dare disturb the sound of silence...

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

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

...music is sometimes the only benign avenue of communication between antagonists.

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

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.

Life I love you, all is groovy.

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

You know, life is what you make of it- so beautiful or so what.

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

People ask how I feel about getting old. I tell them I have the same question. I'm learning as I go.

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

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

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

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.

The trick is, as I know it, is to care like hell and not give a damn at the same time.

It's very helpful to start with something that's true. If you start with something that's false, you're always covering your tracks. Something simple and true, that has a lot of possibilities, is a nice way to begin.

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.

One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

Much of songwriting is simply a mystery.

Somewhere in a burst of glory / Sound becomes a song.

I don't like fashion. It's very heartless.

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

I met my old lover on the street last night, she seemed glad to see me.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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