Brian Wilson Quotes

I get off on hearing other people's voices. I like voices: they're my favourite things on records.

I play piano all the time. I'm always at my piano, playing music.

The idea of taking a song, envisioning the overall sound in my head and then bringing the arrangement to life in the studio...well, that gives me satisfaction like nothing else.

Humor - it helps to make the vibe better - it loosens up the vibrations.

There's nothing greater than a girl.... Well a kid, your daughter, but that's a girl too.

Any article's good. Long as it's publicity, I think that's all that matters. I think it's advancement for my career.

People are part of my music. A lot of my songs are the result of emotional experiences, sadness, pain, joy, and exultation in nature and sunshine and so on...like 'California Girls' which was a hymn to youth.

So it's 1976 and we're still riding on our past success. I mean I've gone on like that for I don't know how long.

Every now and then I hear voices in my head, but not very clear. I can't understand what they are saying. It's a mental illness. I have been diagnosed as a manic depressive.

I listen to oldies but goodies stations, '60s and '70s music.

The only reason I'd ever get a sex change operation is to see what it's like to be right all the time.

The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Phil Spector. Those were my idols.

I believe that music is God's voice.

I meditate and I also think about meditation. Which is funny. I think about Maharishi, about just the idea of meditating. It gives me something.

If there's not love present, it's much, much harder to function. When there's love present, it's easier to deal with life.

I'm doing good. I've had a slight nervous breakdown in the '60s. I got through that. And I got through the '70s. And I was in a doctor's program during the '80s and then I met Melinda and we've been together ever since. I've got a happy life.

I consider myself to be a crusader of love. I try to spread love around the world as best I can because I know I have a handle on love.

You're called a genius by people, and then your whole life you become the part.

I'd earned over a million dollars by the time I was old enough to vote.

I wanted to emulate Bob Flanagan, the high voice in the 'Four Freshmen.' I wanted to sing high like he did.

I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard-working guy.

If you're going to write a song, try to get together with a collaborator because it's better to write with collaborators.

I still believe that something is right only when it feels right.

Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.

I approach my music-making as an art-form--something pure from the spirit to which I can add dynamics and marketable reality. Music is genuine and healthy and the stimulation I get from molding it and adding dynamics is like nothing else on earth.

Love and mercy that's what you need tonight. Love and mercy to you and your friends tonight.

J.S. Bach was easily the greatest musical innovator in the history of the world. He was so advanced for his time. There's a spiritual depth to his music. You can listen to it and it's like meditation.

I earned my famous name.

I always do get a little bit paranoid when I get a lot of attention. But I get used to it.

I can write songs, I've had songs in movies, but I can't compose film scores, you know?

I'm just a shy and retreating kind of person. Sometimes I get in a real talkative mood - but not very often.

I think in terms of emotions. And feelings. So sometimes what I say may not always be clear. But creatively, there's a lot to be said for that way of thinking.

Being single is like liking a Phil Spector record.

Some people might think that sex is the highest experience you can have. I tend to think that music is.

I wake up in the morning and I say 'Ahh! Today's the day for a song! I'm going to write a song today!' And I do. I write a song.

You say how you feel, and songs don't lie. Songs are the most honest form of human expression there is--there's nothing that lies about a song.

I like the piano - I'm always about 15 feet away from a piano.

I have stage fright every single concert I've ever done. I have at least four or five minutes of it. It's absolute living hell.

Surfing music is dead. It was just a summer craze for kids on the beach. I'm finished with it.

Gershwin inspired me very much. The concept of 'That Lucky Old Sun' was inspired by 'Rhapsody in Blue' - not influenced, but inspired.

I'm happy; I'm a happy person.

I hate those old falsettos, I really do, and it's embarrassing since I've grown up.

I was very, very financially secure my whole life. I have been very lucky to say that.

I've never written one note or word of music simply because I think it will make money.

I have auditory hallucinations, I hear voices saying derogatory things, like I'm terrible and I'm going to die, and they're usually worse in the afternoon.

You don't really know what to believe until the Government denies it.

Freedom and Liberty cannot exist without Individual Responsibilty. Failure to exercise Individual Responsibilty forfeits your right to self-governance and delivers it to Government which, through force, will set the parameters of your life.

I think about God, yes, and I wonder if there is a God. And if there is a God, will God please help me through my hard trips.