Paul Simon Quotes

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

...everything looks worse in black and white.

Much of songwriting is simply a mystery.

A lot of talent is a gift, but a lot is also luck. I'm very aware of that. I was born in the right place at the right time. I am also blessed because I've never been a sex symbol. I'm spared the embarrassment of acting young.

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.

To get the stuff out of you, especially if what you're dealing with is yourself, requires you to open up and touch tender spots. You have to be anesthetized a little bit.

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

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.

They've got a wall in China, it's a thousand miles long. To keep out the foreigners, they made it strong. And I've got a wall around me, you can't even see.

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.

I don't think that Simon and Garfunkel as a live act compares to Simon and Garfunkel as a studio act.

Losing love is like a window in your heart.

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.

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

Jay Ashby is simply a great musician!

Two times two is twenty-two, four times four is forty-four. When numbers get serious, they leave a mark on your door.

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

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

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

I try to open up my heart as much as I can and keep a real keen eye out that I don't get sentimental. I think we're all afraid to reveal our hearts. It's not at all in fashion.

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

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

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.

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.

I stepped outside to smoke a J and when I came back to the room, everybody just seemed to move.