Top quotes by James Taylor

Being on a boat that's moving through the water, it's so clear. Everything falls into place in terms of what's important and what's not. Votes: 22

I have a love-hate relationship with the Grammys because I don't see the music world as a competitive sport. Votes: 22

I think that American music, for me, it's a synthesis of a lot of different things. But for me growing up in North Carolina, the stuff that I was listening to, the things that I was hearing, it was all about black music, about soul music. Votes: 19

If you're an addict, it controls your life and your life becomes uncontrollable. It's boring and painful, filling your system with something that makes you stare at your shoes for six hours. Votes: 17

People should watch out for three things: avoid a major addiction, don't get so deeply into debt that it controls your life, and don't start a family before you're ready to settle down. Votes: 16

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. Votes: 16

I believe musicians have a duty, a responsibility to reach out, to share your love or pain with others. Votes: 15

That's the motivation of an artist - to seek attention of some kind. Votes: 14

Certain things in life are more important than the usual crap that everyone strives for. Votes: 14

Sobering up was responsible for breaking up my marriage. That's what it couldn't stand. Votes: 13

Television news is now entertainment, and the stories are being written by the people that have a special interest in them. Votes: 13

One of my earliest memories was me singing 'Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin' at the top of my voice when I was seven. I got totally carried away. My grandmother, Sarah, was in the next room. I didn't even realise she was there. I was terribly embarrassed. Votes: 11

I don't take compliments very easily. I think most musicians suffer from low self-esteem to some extent. Votes: 11

I'm looking forward to being able to retire from being a public figure and being able to afford to be myself! Votes: 9

I think people are isolated because of the nature of human consciousness, and they like it when they feel the connection between themselves and someone else. Votes: 8

Music is like a huge release of tension. Votes: 8

Once you get that two-way energy thing going, everyone benefits hugely. Votes: 8

It's probably foolish to expect relationships to go on forever and to say that because something only lasts 10 years, it's a failure. Votes: 7

Knowing when to quit is probably a very important thing, but I just am not ready. Votes: 7

I sometimes wonder how many of these lifetime achievement awards you can accept before you have to do the decent thing and die. Votes: 6

I believe 100 percent in the power and importance of music. Votes: 6

I'm glad about what's happening to the music business. This last crop of people we had in the 90s, who are going away now, they didn't like music. They didn't trust musicians. They wanted something else from it. Votes: 6

I'm glad that I still have the ability to tour in Europe. I do love it. Votes: 5

I'm trying to look at my blessings and how amazingly well against all odds things have turned out for me. Votes: 4

If the gig's going really well, I'm incredibly happy on stage and really feel good about my life and things. Votes: 4

People have used my songs and guitar style to teach guitar for a long time. Votes: 4

I don't know much about God. But if everything does originate with God, then certainly songs do as well. Votes: 3

I don't play the kind of music that works in a football stadium. Votes: 3

Performing is a profound experience, at least for me. It's not as if I sit down and play 'Fire and Rain' by myself, just to hear it again. But to offer it up... the energy that it somehow summons live takes me right back, and I do get a reconnection to the emotions. Votes: 3

Americans work a long away ahead of themselves because of the size of the place. To make any impact at all you have to promote yourself with live performances ages before a release. Votes: 1

When you write a song, it may come from a personal space, but it very seldom actually represents you. It comes out of a sort of mood of melancholy, somehow. It's almost theatrical. Votes: 0

I'm very unstable; there's no stability in a musician's life at all. You live on a bus or on the road hand to mouth and you don't know where your money's coming from. Votes: 0

Ireland, Italy and Brazil are the most musical places for me. They're extremely musical cultures and anything you pitch they basically catch. Votes: 0

To me, very much of what is artistic is people's very creative and inventive ways out of impossible situations. Votes: 0

What I've always done as an entertainer is try to come up with things that people will find interesting, or compelling, or humorous." Votes: 0

Quart of whiskey a day for months working hard on a long poem. Wife hiding bottles, myself hiding bottles. Murderous and suicidal. Many hospitalizations, many alibis. Votes: 0

It won't be long before another day, were gonna have a good time. And no ones gonna take that time away. You can stay as long as you like Votes: 0

I find it a lot healthier for me to be someplace where I can go outside in my bare feet. Votes: 0

All it really needed was the proper point of view. No one's gonna bring me down. Votes: 0

Don't be sad cause your sun is down, the night doesn't need your sorrow. Don't be sad cause the light is gone, just keep your mind on tomorrow. Votes: 0

I played the cello from when I was ten, and then I bought a guitar from the father of some friends of mine and played that for a while. And then when I was fourteen or so, I bought a guitar - a real nice one - in Durham, North Carolina, that I worked with up until I was about twenty-five. Votes: 0

The report falsely asserts that global warming is causing more extreme weather events, more droughts, more record high temperatures, more wildfires, warmer winters, etc., when each and every one of these false assertions is contradicted by objective, verifiable evidence. Votes: 0

There'll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time, unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done. Votes: 0

People are making a lot of music and higher and higher quality. I can't say the same thing for how people are listening to music. People are hearing music through terrible speakers, little computer speakers, there's a lot to get back to in terms of hi-fi and people listening to better quality, technically better quality music. Votes: 0

Without a doubt, the warming of the past 100 years has been a welcome respite from a long and deadly Little Ice Age. The possibility that humans may have contributed to the recent warming does not make it any less welcome. Votes: 0

Somehow it helps just to take something that's internal and externalize it, to see it in front of you. Votes: 0

Baby booty, juicy fruity, truck stop cutie, road side beauty, I'm in love with you. Votes: 0

He's halfway sick and halfway stoned. He'd sure like to kick, but he's too far gone. So they wind him down with methadone. Votes: 0

In my mind I'm going to Carolina. Can't you see the sunshine, can't you just feel the moonshine? Ain't it just like a friend of mine, to hit me from behind, and I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind. Votes: 0

The SECRET to Love is in OPENING up your Heart Votes: 0

I would advise you to keep your overhead down; avoid a major drug habit; play everyday, and take it front of other people. They need to hear it, and you need them to hear it. Votes: 0

When I cleaned up some 17 odd years ago, I felt terrible for about six months. The only thing that gave me any real relief was strenuous physical activity. Votes: 0

There's been plenty of adversity, starting the moment he was born. He had a respiratory crisis, and it was touch and go for a week whether he would survive. I think ever since, you can feel this pulse in the guy, an almost physical enthusiasm. Votes: 0

It's a real wrenching thing to go from being a private person to being a public person, especially when you're being autobiographical. But it's what everyone wants - to get everyone's attention, to have your music make a living for you, to be validated in that way. Votes: 0

Songwriting is too mysterious and uncontrolled a process for me to direct it towards any one thing. Votes: 0

Things started to get out of control when I began reading that I was a superstar. Votes: 0

If you think my music is sentimental and self-absorbed, I agree with you. Votes: 0

Shower the people you love with love. Votes: 0

To be a musician, especially a singer-songwriter - well, you don't do that if you have a thriving social life. You do it because there's an element of alienation in your life. Votes: 0

I don't reinvent myself in any major way. It seems to be a slow evolution. I go back and visit certain themes that I feel strongly about and resonate with me emotionally. Votes: 0

Whenever I see your smiling face, I have to smile myself, because I love you, yes I do. Votes: 0

I started being a songwriter pretending I could do it, and it turned out I could. Votes: 0

I have a studio in a barn at home - we rehearse there, we film there and we record there. It's fun to hang out with my guys and see what comes out next. Votes: 0

I've seen fire and I've seen rain I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend But I always thought that I'd see you again. Votes: 0

Though 'Fire and Rain' is very personal, for other people it resonates as a sort of commonly held experience... And that's what happens with me. I write things for personal reasons, and then in some cases it... can be a shared experience. Votes: 0

I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself. Votes: 0

Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose Won't you let me go down in my dreams? Votes: 0

I am myself for a living. I don't animate a character. Votes: 0

It's a real wrenching thing to go from being a private person to being a public person, especially when you're being autobiographical. Votes: 0

I collect hats. That's what you do when you're bald. Votes: 0

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have made a lot of difference to my audience that I'm as bald as a billiard ball! Votes: 0

It is a process of discovery. It's being quiet enough and undisturbed enough for a period of time so that the songs can begin to sort of peek out, and you begin to have emotional experiences in a musical way. Votes: 0

The Beatles were a phenomenon, but they were also ordinary blokes like anyone else. I was lucky enough to see that side. Votes: 0

It's hard to find a way forward. When you're 18 it happens in huge chunks every day, but after 20 years, growth is much more costly. Votes: 0

You have to choose whether to love yourself or not. Votes: 0

A concert is always like a feast day to me. Votes: 0

I can take criticisms but not compliments. Votes: 0

Bruce Springsteen's a rock star. Elton John is a rock star. I'm a folk musician. Honestly, I think that's true. Votes: 0

Time will take your money, but money won't buy time. Votes: 0

If I were to try to identify a turning point I'd say that was it - getting clean. Votes: 0

I don't think anyone really says anything new. Votes: 0

Turn away from your animal kind, try to leave your body, just to live in your mind. Votes: 0

Never give up, never slow down, never grow old and never ever die young. Votes: 0

Music reminds us that the universe loves us Votes: 0

It is the most delightful thing that ever happens to me, when I hear something coming out of my guitar and out of my mouth that wasn't there before. Votes: 0

No one can tell me that I'm doing wrong. Votes: 0

['Fire and Rain'] is sort of almost uncomfortably close. Almost confessional. The reason I could write a song like that at that point, and probably couldn't now, is that I didn't have any sense that anyone would hear it. I started writing the song while I was in London...and I was totally unknown.... So I assumed that they would never be heard. I could just write or say anything I wanted. Now I'm very aware, and I have to deal with my stage fright and my anxiety about people examining or judging it. The idea that people will pass judgment on it is not a useful thought. Votes: 0

We could never have guessed We were already blessed where we are... Votes: 0

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King and recognize that there are ties between us, all men and women living on the Earth. Ties of hope and love, sister and brotherhood, that we are bound together in our desire to see the world become a place in which our children can grow free and strong. We are bound together by the task that stands before us and the road that lies ahead. We are bound and we are bound. Votes: 0

My brother Alex fell in love with rhythm and blues early and gave me a strong dose of it. Votes: 0

I've written a number of songs over the years and it's a big part of my life, this sort of tension between a longing for home and the call for the open road. It's sort of like a tug between two families. I even love to miss my home. Votes: 0

What I've always done as an entertainer is try to come up with things that people will find interesting, or compelling, or humorous. Votes: 0

I don't find the songs; they find me. I just strum my guitar and wait for a lyric to come. Votes: 0

You can bring your enemies to their knees with the possible exception of the North Vietnamese. Votes: 0

If you feel like singing along, don't. Votes: 0

Music is my living. I enjoy selling my music. Votes: 0

Synchronized with the rising moon Even with the evening star They were true love written in stone They were never alone, they were never that far apart Votes: 0

Try not to try to hard, it's just a lovely ride;) Votes: 0

I think there's probably a God-shaped hole in everybody's being. Even if God only exists in people's minds, He's still a force. Votes: 0

I don't get into heavy political numbers because I don't find them lyrical. Votes: 0

Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you gotta do is call, and I'll be there, 'cause you've got a friend. Votes: 0

I was in chemical jail. Votes: 0

I was a functional addict. Votes: 0

I think that we're all totally isolated beings and always will be. Votes: 0

I think it surprises a lot of people that I'm still around, you know, still - that I'm not pushing up daisies, as they say. Votes: 0

I tend to write out the first iteration of a lyric here and then go over here and make variations on it, on the page opposite. Votes: 0

I had a very moral upbringing, and spiritual in a sort of not very specific way. Votes: 0

We all have to face pain, and pain makes us grow. Votes: 0

Songs are like myths. Myths are useful because they allow you to cast yourself and your life and your own experience. And for some people, 'Fire and Rain' speaks to them in that way. Votes: 0

But it's only after you've played it on the road 20 or 30 times that it becomes really finished and polished...and you realize what it means, and you get the phrasing right. Votes: 0

I typically will work on a lyric in a three-ring binder. On the right side, I'll write the lyric, and on the left side, I put in alternate things...and things that might be alternates or improvements. I'll turn the page and do it again. I'll turn the page and do it again, or incorporate the improvements. Eventually, I end up with some material, and often it needs to be ordered. Votes: 0

Shower the people you love with love Show them the way that you feel Things are gonna work out fine if you only will. Votes: 0

I know now one thing only matters in these days... true love... love and love alone. Votes: 0

There ain't no doubt in my mind that love is the finest thing around Votes: 0

I know there are people who don't like their audience or like the experience of being recognized or celebrated, but my audience has been very good - they don't bother me and when they do contact me it's usually on the nicest possible terms. Votes: 0

Photographers and reporters are mostly after me. They want to know what I read and what I'm like and I don't really know myself, so how can I tell them? Votes: 0

I wanted to perform, I wanted to write songs, and I wanted to get lots of chicks. Votes: 0

I can't thank you enough for showing up. It's not the same without you. Votes: 0

Just nine lucky soldiers had come through the night, half of them wounded and barely alive. Just nine out of twenty was headed for home, with eleven stories to tell. Votes: 0

O, it's enough to be on your way. It's enough just to cover ground. It's enough to be moving on. Home: better build it behind your eyes. Carry it in your heart, Safe among your own. Votes: 0

The Test arena is a place I have been desperate to get back to, it is the pinnacle of the sport Votes: 0

Creativity is the process that gives life to a new product. Votes: 0

Global warming activists claim a serious public concern presently exists and the overwhelming majority of scientists agrees humans are creating a global warming crisis. The survey of AMS meteorologists, however, shows no such overwhelming majority exists. Indeed, to the extent we can assign a majority scientific opinion to whether all the necessary components of a global warming crisis exist, the AMS survey shows the majority does not agree humans are creating a global warming crisis. Votes: 0

It was like the top of the roof came off the house, .. He had that effect on everyone. Votes: 0

I gathered up my sorrows and I sold them all for gold. And I gathered up the gold, and I threw it all away. Votes: 0

I told you that I love you, I was only telling a lie. I'll be long gone come the crack of dawn and I believe the word is goodbye. Votes: 0

Do me wrong, do me right, tell me lies, but hold me tight. Votes: 0

Though the body sleeps, the heart will never rest. Votes: 0

I don't build no heathen temples, where the Lord has done laid a hand. There's a well on the hill, let it be. Votes: 0

Einstein said that he never could understand it all, the planets spinning in space, the smile upon your face. Votes: 0

Within my heart is carved a sculpture of your love. Votes: 0

The sides are steep and the nights are long and cold down in the hole, light and love and the world above mean nothing to the mole. Votes: 0

Won't you look down upon me Jesus, you've got to help me make a stand. You just got to see me through another day. Votes: 0

All invisible from where we stand the connections come to pass, and though too strong to comprehend they affect us not the less. Votes: 0

In the old days gigging was everything. The whole of life was about gigs. Everything was about waiting for the gig and then doing the gig and going nuts and then afterwards the party and all the stuff that goes with it. And then that party continues through your twenties and thirties. I'm now 51, and it's still very much in my blood, but I'm really hard pushed... the gig is the party for me now. Votes: 0

The relationship, the marriage, the commitment, the partnership... This is the holy ground. Votes: 0

I'm always making music. I'm constantly making little musical recordings on my phone or on a little voice recorder I carry with me so I can remember these little pieces of music that eventually becomes songs. Votes: 0

It's the nature of human consciousness to look for trouble constantly, and we find it. We find it. Votes: 0

I think of myself as a highly spiritual person, but without - I was never really given a religion or a religious experience or a community to sort of subscribe to. Votes: 0

I'm often surprised by classical music and musicians. I've met a large number of them because my wife works for the Boston Symphony, and I'm in that world a lot now. I'm surprised at how difficult it is for people who are classically trained to read music or to memorize music, how difficult it is for them to improvise, to just go off and play. It's sort of, it's like terra incognita. They just, (makes noise) they don't get it. Votes: 0

It's true that I can write a song and not really be sure what the meaning of it is. Votes: 0

In the beginning, there was a kind of energy that - like an urgency to express myself, and the songs just couldn't be held in. But I think it changes, the nature of how that - what that energy is. And I need to court the muse in a much more serious way. Votes: 0

It's easier to make an album, harder to figure out how to get people to notice it... Votes: 0

I'm grateful to my audience, that there are people who will buy a ticket and come and see us play and who essentially support me and this life of music. Votes: 0