Paul Simon Quotes & Sayings

Have 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.
I've been loving and loving and loving.
I'm exhausted from loving so well
I should go to bed.
But a voice in my head says,
"Ah, what the hell — 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

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

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. — Paul Simon

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

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. — 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

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

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

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

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

The only time that love is an easy game is when two other people are playing it. — Paul Simon

A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest. - Paraphrased from The Boxer — Paul Simon

Well I'm on my way
I don't know where I'm going
I'm on my way I'm taking my time
But I don't know where — Paul Simon

Most of the time, when I had hits as a soloist - maybe not so much with Simon & Garfunkel - I was surprised they were hits. I didn't know what the hits were. I never thought that 'Loves Me Like A Rock' was going to be a hit, or 'Mother And Child Reunion,' or '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.' They didn't sound like what the hits sounded like at the time. Radio was more open to things that weren't exactly what every other hit was. — Paul Simon

I don't like fashion. It's very heartless. — Paul Simon

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

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. — 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

* 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

She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said 'Be careful his bowtie is really a camera' — Paul Simon

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

The risk of failure is part of the fun of what I do. — Paul Simon

What threatens us today in the world of computers and other invasions of privacy is not a national ID card but a number of other things. — 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

Take me. I'm an ordinary player in the key of C.
And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity.
Who's gonna love you when you're looks are gone?
God will. Like he waters the flowers on your window sill. — Paul Simon

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

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

Much of songwriting is simply a mystery. — Paul Simon

I've got a reason to believe we all be received in Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee. — 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

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

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. — Paul Simon

Serious numbers will speak to us always. — Paul Simon

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

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

Every time the industry gets powerful, and corporate thinking dominates what the music is, then the music really pales. — Paul Simon

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

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away. — Paul Simon

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

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. — Paul Simon

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

Big box just wasn't our strength. We are a men's and boy's specialty store focused on providing high quality clothing with custom tailoring. Our customer is king. When we had seven stores, communication between the stores and with our customers became more disconnected. We started to lose that great family 'camaraderie' that is essentially the key to our success. — Paul Simon

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

I really don't know what exactly all the songs mean. Sometimes other people have meanings and when I hear them I think, 'That's really a better meaning than I thought, and perfectly valid, given the words that exist.' So part of what makes a song really good is that people take in different meanings, and they apply them, and they might be more powerful than the ones I'm thinking. — 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

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

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

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

All I've got to do today is smile. — Paul Simon

Losing love is like a window in your heart ... — Paul Simon

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

Was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Not a negative word was heard. — Paul Simon

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again. — Paul Simon

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. — Paul Simon

I see a correlation between short stories and songs, because of their length and for what they're meant to evoke. Combine certain words with melodies and it all becomes very moving. — Paul Simon

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

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

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

Jay Ashby is simply a great musician! — Paul Simon

When I was a young reporter, the great vice among journalists was whiskey. Today, it's cynicism. — Paul Simon

Then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right, there must be fifty ways to leave your lover. — Paul Simon

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. — Paul Simon

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

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

I always get very calm with baseball. — Paul Simon

Cecilia was made in a living room on a Sony. It was like a little piece of magical fluff, bur it works. El Condor Pasa a Los Incas record that I love. Bridge is a very strong melodic song. — 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

So I'll continue to continue to pretend my life will never end, and flowers never bend with the rainfall. — Paul Simon

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. — Paul Simon

Elvis was the reason I picked up the guitar. — Paul Simon

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

Everything looks worse in black and white. — Paul Simon

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. — 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

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

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. — 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

It was the year of the Beatles, it was the year of the Stones, it was 1964. — Paul Simon

It's outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor; It's outrageous, the crimes some human beings must endure ... — Paul Simon

I don't think [Dylan and the Beatles] influenced me a lot. I think it was inevitable; they were so powerful that you couldn't really escape the influence. — 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

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

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

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

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. — Paul Simon

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. — Paul Simon

Although I was able to study music with teachers, I never studied lyric writing. I read poetry, and I read other lyricists. But they were never writing in the style or the form that I was interested in. — 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

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

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all — Paul Simon

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

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

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

You can't outrun the history train — Paul Simon

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

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