Winwood Quotes & Sayings

Don't buy this 'believe in yourself' rubbish. Why do they keep telling youngsters that? There's no point believing in yourself if you don't know what you're doing. Once you've got a vision of what you want to do, by all means stick to that passionately and doggedly. Believe in your ideas. It's not quite the same thing. — Steve Winwood

It's an often-asked question, 'Why did all these spotty white English boys suddenly start playing blues in the '60s?' It was recognized as this kind of vibrant music and when I first started playing in a blues band I just wanted to bring it to a wider public who hadn't really heard it. — Steve Winwood

If nothing is the way it seems, then this life is just a haunted dream. — Steve Winwood

While you see a chance take it, find romance, fake it, because it's all on you. — Steve Winwood

As a single atom man is an enigma: as a whole he is a mathematical problem. As an individual he is a free agent, as a species the offspring of necessity. — William Winwood Reade

Artistic genius is an expansion of monkey imitativeness. — William Winwood Reade

To cultivate the intellect is therefore a religious duty; and when this truth is fairly recognized by men, the religion which teaches that the intellect should be distrusted and that it should be subservient to faith, will inevitably fall. — William Winwood Reade

I'm not a big fan of lead vocalists, people who sing but don't play. I never wanted to be in a band where the guy who was up front just sang. I've always thought it better when one of the musicians sings, like Steve Winwood. — Eric Clapton

All doctrines relating to the creation of the world, the government of man by superior beings, and his destiny after death, are conjectures which have been given out as facts, handed down with many adornments by tradition, and accepted by posterity as "revealed religion". They are theories more or less rational which uncivilised men have devised in order to explain the facts of life, and which civilised men believe that they believe. — William Winwood Reade

The music industry went through such a strange stretch in 1977, especially in this country, with the whole punk rock thing coming about. Punk was rebellious-and justified in that response-but it had very little to do with music, and so it created a highly-charged but frighteningly floundering atmosphere that I found very, very disheartening. Musical quality for me has always been an important part of rock'n'roll-and winning recognition for that has long been an uphill battle all the way. Punk seemed like rock'n'roll utterly without the music. — Steve Winwood

It could be my British need for discipline that makes me admire the American appetite for freedom and passion. — Steve Winwood

In some respects I'm quite easily led, so I have to make sure I've got my own space, and that I feel comfortable in my working environment. It's very important for me to work with the right collaborators, as I can easily get led into a corner where I'm not comfortable. — Steve Winwood

All through the kind of late '80s and '90s, every A&R record company man was saying, 'Now what we want is another record like 'Back in the High Life.' And, of course, that's not the way to make music at all. That's the tail wagging the dog. — Steve Winwood

Savor the throne, but don't mind the stool. — Steve Winwood

You would probably think that rock music is an urban phenomena, but the main reason for doing it in '68 was so that we could play music very loud any time of the day or night without getting complaints from the neighbours. — Steve Winwood

Winwood Reade is good upon the subject," said Holmes. "He remarks that, while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. — Arthur Conan Doyle

Music is a science, in many ways it's mathematical. — Steve Winwood

I wouldn't mind being dead - it would be something new. — Estelle Winwood

Don't you know by now, luck don't lead to anything or why you keep on moving. — Steve Winwood

Networking is rubbish; have friends instead. — Steve Winwood

In life you can get a feeling which is part of a person, the same as in the songs. Music is almost our representation of our fantasies and so our songs are representations of our fantasies. — Steve Winwood

To make a living from doing something I love is fantastic. As long as people want to listen to me, I'll keep doing it. In fact, to tell you the truth, even if no one did want to listen to me, I'd still be doing it! — Steve Winwood

Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine. — Steve Winwood

The voices inside you can lead your soul astray Believe in what you dream Don't turn away don't you turn away. Reach for the light You might touch the sky Stand on the mountaintop and see yourself flying Reach for the light to capture a star Come out of the darkness and find out who you are. — Steve Winwood

Where's that higher love I keep thinking of? — Steve Winwood

I think a lot of people came into rock n' roll to try to change the world. I came into rock n' roll to make music. — Steve Winwood

A lot of people think that the music was responsible for a lot of changes in the Sixties, but I think the music came out of it. The music wouldn't have happened without the social changes. — Steve Winwood

I'm the same boy I used to be. — Steve Winwood

Nature does not contradict herself; the laws which govern the movements of society are as regular and unchangeable as those which govern the movements of the stars. — William Winwood Reade

The finer things I feel in me, the golden dance life could be. — Steve Winwood

One man puts the fire out, the other lights the fuse. — Steve Winwood

I've spent more time in traffic than Steve Winwood. — Don Reo

When life is too much, roll with it, baby. — Steve Winwood

Listening to music for me is like homework. Music will give me enjoyment, but as soon as it's giving me that enjoyment, I want to analyse it, and then it becomes work. Why does it sound like that? How? ... then I dissect it. — Steve Winwood

Punk was more based on social change than on music, so it didn't bother me too much. It wasn't really a musical threat. — Steve Winwood

In Europe itself it is not probable that war will ever absolutely cease until science discovers some destroying force so simple in its administration, so horrible in its effects, that all art, all gallantry, will be at an end, and battles will be massacres which the feelings of mankind will be unable to endure. — William Winwood Reade

I got thrown out of music school for even listening to Fats Domino and Ray Charles. I was asked, 'What kind of music do you like to listen to?' and I said, 'Well, I do like Paul Hindemith and Igor Stravinsky but I also like Fats Domino and Ray Charles,' and they literally said, 'Either forget about that or leave.' — Steve Winwood

Punk [rock] seemed like rock 'n' roll music utterly without the music. — Steve Winwood

If you hold me, I will let you into my dreams. — Steve Winwood

Doubt is the offspring of knowledge: the savage never doubts at all. — William Winwood Reade

Several years ago, I was asked by a songwriter's association to go to Nashville - I think it involved some kind of award - and be part of the showcase. It was myself and Stevie Winwood and Michael McDonald and then some country people that I didn't know. The whole community was just so welcoming to me. — Justin Hayward

The living together is very important in a way. It's important for writing. It wouldn't be important if we were like just getting other people's numbers together, we'd just have to meet at rehearsals, but writing is something almost completely different. — Steve Winwood

One of my problems is I'm not really sure if I slot into rock or not. I've always tried to combine world music, folk, jazz, blues and rock, and have done since Traffic. — Steve Winwood

If you call someone up on a mistake - if the drummer's put an extra beat in a bar or something - you have a lot more authority if you can show them how to do it right. — Steve Winwood

Open the book of universal history at what period we may, it is always the India trade which is the cause of internal industry and foreign negotiation. — William Winwood Reade

Half of us is easy, the other half is hard. Even though we do our best, we end up being scarred. — Steve Winwood

There are still many great surviving talents: Stevie Winwood. Another great talent is Stevie Wonder. Another one is Eric Clapton. Another one is Phil Collins. Eminem, Kanye West I like all those people. — Ahmet Ertegun

A religion so cheerless, a philosophy so sorrowful, could never have succeeded with the masses of mankind if presented only as a system of metaphysics. Buddhism owed its success to its catholic spirit and its beautiful morality. — William Winwood Reade

Our enlightened posterity will look back upon us who eat oxen and sheep, just as we look upon cannibals. — William Winwood Reade

I was in college, but I got kicked out. It was a very free school, but I created a "bad impression." Like I was a bit more fiery in those days. At the time I got kicked out, I knew exactly what I was going to do and didn't even bother to go back for a leaving certificate. Then I was singing in folk clubs around Birmingham and playing jazz in clubs on Sundays. — Steve Winwood

As for the system of the Commune, which makes it impossible for a man to rise or fall, it is merely the old caste system revived; if it could be put into force, all industry would be disheartened, emulation would cease, and mankind would go to sleep. — William Winwood Reade

If Christianity were true religious persecution would become a pious and charitable duty: if God designs to punish men for their opinions it would be an act of mercy to mankind to extinguish such opinions. By burning the bodies of those who diffuse them many souls would be saved that would otherwise be lost, and so there would be an economy of torment in the long run. It is therefore not surprising that enthusiasts should be intolerant. — William Winwood Reade

One book that has influenced the writer very strongly is Winwood Reade's Martyrdom of Man ... It is still an extraordinarily inspiring presentation of human history as one consistent process. — William Winwood Reade

When the rhythm and night ride, no heart can hide. — Steve Winwood

The percentage you're paying is too high priced While you're living beyond all your means And the man in the suit has just bought a new car From the profit he's made on your dreams. — Steve Winwood

While there is time, let's go out and do everything. — Steve Winwood

Reade was an emancipating writer because he seemed to speak as man to man to resolve history into an intelligible pattern in which there was no need for miracles. Even if he was wrong, he was grown-up. — William Winwood Reade

My advice to actresses is don't worry about your looks. The very thing that makes you unhappy in your appearance may be the one thing to make you a star. — Estelle Winwood

Here we were supposedly changing the world for the better in the Sixties, but as we get 40 years further down the line, we realise that some of those changes such as the drugs probably weren't all that great or sensible. It was all about social experiments. — Steve Winwood

Men prefer to believe that they are degenerated angels, rather than elevated apes. — William Winwood Reade

A band is not a marriage. There are no oaths of allegiance. If you feel your life will be better served by splitting up the group, you've got to do it - but of course it does cause problems. — Steve Winwood

It is a sure criterion of the civilisation of ancient Egypt that the soldiers did not carry arms except on duty, and that the private citizens did not carry them at all. — William Winwood Reade

One fact must be familiar to all those who have any experience of human nature - a sincerely religious man is often an exceedingly bad man. — William Winwood Reade

If we look into ourselves we discover propensities which declare that our intellects have arisen from a lower form; could our minds be made visible we should find them tailed. — William Winwood Reade

What a state of society is this in which freethinker is a term of abuse, and in which doubt is regarded as sin? — William Winwood Reade

The music I write, I feel, is not the kind of music for a 25-year-old. — Steve Winwood

Planning is a process of choosing among those many options. If we do not choose to plan, then we choose to have others plan for us. — Richard I. Winwood

What selfish seeds I plant along the way, black harvest today. — Steve Winwood

And then, the Earth being small, mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas which separate planet from planet and sun from sun. The Earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims from all the quarters of the Universe. Finally, men will master the forces of Nature; they will become themselves architects of systems, manufacturers of worlds. — William Winwood Reade

My goal has always been to make classic records, classic albums. Sometimes the recording process and the era it was recorded in means the production leans in a particular way, but to me they are all part of the same process. — Steve Winwood

Obviously, the Sixties was a time when everyone wanted to experiment, and then everything became very formulated and corporate, so artists tended to get pushed into a kind of pattern. Now, I think that has continued with the emergence of televised talent shows like 'X Factor.' — Steve Winwood

Lady Winwood being denied, the morning caller inquired with some anxiety for Miss Winwood, or, in fact, for any of the young ladies. — Georgette Heyer

We live between two worlds; we soar in the atmosphere; we creep upon the soil; we have the aspirations of creators and the propensities of quadrupeds. There can be but one explanation of this fact. We are passing from the animal into a higher form, and the drama of this planet is in its second act. — William Winwood Reade

A day will come when the European god of the nineteenth century will be classed with the gods of Olympus and the Nile. — William Winwood Reade

Christians believe themselves to be the aristocracy of heaven upon earth, they are admitted to the spiritual court, while millions of men in foreign lands have never been presented. They bow their knees and say they are 'miserable sinners,' and their hearts rankle with abominable pride. Poor infatuated fools! Their servility is real and their insolence is real but their king is a phantom and their palace is a dream. — William Winwood Reade

The essence of religion is inertia; the essence of science is change. It is the function of the one to preserve, it is the function of the other to improve. If, as in Egypt, they are firmly chained together, either science will advance, in which case the religion will be altered, or the religion will preserve its purity, and science will congeal. — William Winwood Reade

The philosophic spirit of inquiry may be traced to brute curiosity, and that to the habit of examining all things in search of food. — William Winwood Reade

It may safely be asserted that the art of war will soon be reduced to a simple question of expenditure and credit, and that the largest purse will be the strongest arm. — William Winwood Reade

Time is a river rolling into nowhere. We must live while we can, and we'll drink our cup of laughter. — Steve Winwood