Paul Simon quotes
Born
October 13, 1941, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation
Singer, songwriter, musician.
Paul Simon is an American singer, songwriter and musician.
Facts can be turned into art if one is artful enough.
– Paul Simon
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.
– 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
I’m more interested in what I discover than what I invent.
– Paul Simon
Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.
– Paul Simon
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.
– Paul Simon
A man sees what he wants to see, And disregards the rest.
– 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
When I was 15, I made a solo record. It made Artie very unhappy. He looked upon it as something of a betrayal.
– Paul Simon
You want to be a writer, don’t know how or when? Find a quiet place, use a humble pen.
– 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
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
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.
– Paul Simon
When I began making my own albums, the songs became funkier. They were more about the streets.
– Paul Simon
All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
– Paul Simon
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.
– 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
As long as you have capital punishment there is no guarantee that innocent people won’t be put to death.
– Paul Simon
Anybody can do bad work, but not everybody does good work.
– Paul Simon
The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenements halls and whispered in the sounds of silence.
– Paul Simon
Someone told me it’s all happening at the zoo.
– Paul Simon
Mrs. Robinson is a little dated now, but it has nothing to do with Joe DiMaggio.
– 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
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.
– Paul Simon
Improvisation is too good to leave to chance.
– Paul Simon
I always get very calm with baseball.
– Paul Simon
How much can you do with two voices? You can sing thirds or you can sing fifths or you can do a background harmony.
– 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
There’s something about the sound of a train that’s very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful.
– Paul Simon
I rate each album as better than the last one. That’s how I see it.
– Paul Simon
My life so common it disappears and sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.
– Paul Simon
I think I have a superior brain and an inferior stature, if you really want to get brutal about it.
– Paul Simon
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.
– Paul Simon
People often called us perfectionists, but we were not looking for perfection. We were looking for some kind of magic in the music.
– Paul Simon
Who am I to blow against the wind?
– 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
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.
– Paul Simon
The record company stay out of my way. Whenever the record is finished, they take it.
– Paul Simon
Listen to the sound of silence.
– Paul Simon
I don’t like fashion. It’s very heartless.
– Paul Simon