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“There is much to weep about. But it is a sin to permit our tears to drown out our song of gratitude and joy in the gift of creation.”
Richard John Neuhaus (1936–2009) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wild Moralists in the Animal Kingdom", in First Things (April 2003).
“The Mississippi and its paddle boats, and the rivers of Bengal and their gleaming steamers evoked a similar atmosphere of romance, of long, song-filled voyages, high winds and lonely sunsets.”
Qurratulain Hyder (1927–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And when the sunshine showed Her face I felt like I was ready to die. Went lookin' for a place to hide, A hole I could crawl inside. Long lines, Whiskey bottles, And the same old song. I smell death in the air And I know it won't be long.”
“And we were trying different things, We were smoking funny things, Making love out by the lake to our favorite song. Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow, Singing "Sweet Home Alabama" all summer long. Singing "Sweet Home Alabama" all summer long.”
“So when you have to ask yourself: "Why am I holding back, why am I doing pictures?" And it's usually: that's because you're afraid. Bottom line. And for great art you have to be brave. So that the whole world is going to laugh at you but you don't care, do you get me? And when they say: "Ah that's stupid!" You don't care. You follow that song. I'm sorry, it's true.”
Alonzo King (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've been down this road beforeI remember every treeEvery single blade of grassHolds a special place for meAnd I remember every townAnd every hotel room Every song I ever sangOn a guitar out of tune”
John Prine (1946–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My problems are few If I don't stop to thinkThe red golden leavesScream the song of the sunThe high rolling hillsGive it all in the fallThe hot days are gone... now”
Steve Forbert (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although I am unacquainted with astrological lore, I was drawn to the symbolic power of the pervasive dream in our popular culture: that after a dark, violent age, the Piscean, we are entering a millennium of love and light—in the words of the popular song, "The Age of Aquarius," the time of "the mind's true liberation.”
Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is true that art today is pluralistic. Pluralism was noticed by certain followers of Ludwig Wittgenstein. What makes art so powerful a force as it appears to be in song and story is due to what makes it art to begin with. There is really nothing like it when it comes to stirring the spirit.”
Arthur Danto (1924–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bird that sings the song of pain is love The courier who knows the tongue of the Unseen is love The existence that call you to nonexistence is love And that which redeems you from you is love”
Khaqani (1121–1199) said by 1199 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What use the green river, the gold place, if time and death pinned human in the pocket of my land not rest from taking underground the green all-willowed and white rose and bean flower and morning-mist picnic of song in pepper-pot breast of thrush?”
Janet Frame (1924–2004) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Owls Do Cry, pt, 1, chap. 4, 1961
“Prayer is also an art, an exercise of beauty, of song, of inner liberation. It is ascesis and ascent, it is a rigorous effort, but also a gentle and free flight of the soul toward God.”
Gianfranco Ravasi (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let the hearts of the women of the world respond to the song of the herald angels of peace on earth and good will to men. Let them throb as one heart unified by the grand and holy purpose of uplifting the human race, and humanity will breathe freer, and the world grow brighter. With such a purpose Eden would spring up in our path, and Paradise be around our way.”
Frances Harper (1825–1911) said by 1911 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“…this song is quite autobiographical because I didn't grow up in the U.S. I am half Japanese, and it came from wanting to just fit into this very American person's life and simply not being able to. Just fundamentally being from a different place and feeling like I would just get in the way of their progression if their life, because I could just never get to wherever they're naturally going.”
Mitski (born 1990) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how her life experience shaped the song “Your Best American Girl” from her album Puberty 2.0 in “Mitski Talks 'Your Best American Girl,' Identity And Her New Album” in NPR (2016 Mar 2)
“I pretended I was Cat Stevens. I started out with very Cat Stevensy chords, very abrupt. I was so stuck in the moment of being fearful so as a lesson to myself I said: ‘but we can never know about the days to come’. I didn’t know when the door-bell was going to ring. I liked that. It was all of a sudden a quarter to eight and I had written the whole song.”
Carly Simon (born 1943) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her song “Anticipation” in “Carly Simon explains ‘Anticipation’ was about Cat Stevens” in Music-News.com (31 Oct 2016)
“My advice to me back then is: Beware of people bearing gifts. When you have la fama [fame], people come out of the woodwork who are supposedly looking out after you. There's an old blues song that goes, "She's got a mouth full of gimme and a hand full of much obliged," and basically that's it. Unless you have guidance, it's a hard world to experience, but it has its perks.”
Oscar Hijuelos (1951–2013) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the advice that he’d give to his younger self following the success of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love in “Mambo in Double Time: The Beat Goes On” in AARP Magazine (Summer 2010)
“The traditional ways and rituals of all of Earth's peoples are kept in containers of poetry, song, and story. It is how we know who we are, where we are coming from and who we are becoming.”
“Every soul has a distinct song. (p19)”
“I can remind people that they use poetry, go to poetry, frequently, and may not even know they are. A lot of song lyrics are poetry. They go to poetry for a transformational moment, to speak when there are no words to speak.”
“Each song is like a short movie...And each character is different.”
Marc Anthony (born 1968) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his songs and performing in "Marc Anthony: Speaking his mind" in CBS News (2016 May 1)
“My mother used to say that my tones are all crooked: it’s like hearing a song sung out of tune.”
Madeleine Thien (born 1974) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her limited Cantonese skills in “Madeleine Thien: ‘In China, you learn a lot from what people don’t tell you’” in The Guardian (2016 Oct 8)
“I have never done drugs, I’ve never got high, I’ve never smoked anything in my life. I don’t give a fuck, I never have. It’s just not interesting to me. I have other shit to do. … I know people around you doing that shit makes you want to, but you don’t have to … [her song "xanny" is] less "don’t do drugs"; it’s more "be safe" …. I don’t want my friends to die any more.”
Billie Eilish (born 2001) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Billie Eilish: the pop icon who defines 21st-century teenage angst" by Hannah Ewens, in The Guardian (29 March 2019)
“I sang it about soldiers, then, later, about gay men. It touches me deeply every time. I used to perform this song at Mr Henry’s and people would be totally silent. I knew it moved them.”
Roberta Flack (1937–2025) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the song “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” in “Roberta Flack: 'My music is my expression of what I feel in a moment'” in The Guardian (2020 Jan 21)
“So I, I turn the radio on, I turn the radio up And this woman was singin' my song Lovers in love and the others run away Lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay”
“Nature's sturdiest buds and her best-fed butterflies belong to this sex; her female spiders are large enough to eat up a score of her little males; some of her mother-fishes might parody the nursery-song, "I have a little husband no bigger than my thumb.”
Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825–1921) said by 1921 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This time something’s wrong. This time I hear no song. This time, I feel this could be real, this could be love.”
“It does sort of transcend from stage to the camera and now behind the camera directing and in my writing. It’s like a bearing of everything. Even if it’s a funny song or a comedic scene. You are stripping yourself bare and showing them who you are, and I crave that.”
Joely Fisher (born 1967) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Joely Fisher – interview (November 7, 2018)
“Taking a statement from anyone can be a long process on account of the fact that your average member of the public wouldn’t know the truth if it donned a pink tutu and danced in front of them singing the Chicken Song.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If Tom Cruise can do an action sequence in his 60's, I can do a song like "Kaavaalaa" even when I am 60 too.”
Tamannaah Bhatia (born 1989) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tu Aa Dilbara Press Conference. (27 July 2023)
“Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything pulses to a beat laid down by the Big Bang. Everything feels the drumline of creation from star to sex to song.”
Catherynne M. Valente (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Song]] Not bleakly, Not meekly Beat me on the bottom with the Woman's Weekly Let's do it, let's do it tonight!”
Victoria Wood (1953–2016) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let's Do It)" (1987), as published in Lucky Bag: The Victoria Wood Song Book, London: Methuen, 1992 (second edition).
“This song's 'bout a young boy that's gone wild inside When my world collide With your world where your girl and your kids reside We killed the facades, we feel free to fly We're birds that reserve in the charismatic sky I care about my pride too much If my clothes is new, if my ride is plush If my hair is cut, if my diamonds is crushed I look in the mirror, I'm trendy enough? Wrong”
Kendrick Lamar (born 1987) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is sometimes enough that one places one's voice on the silence... [S]ilence too is powerful. It is the dimension in which ordinary and extraordinary events take their proper places. In the Indian world, a word is spoken or a song is sung not against, but within the silence. ...[S]ilence is the sanctuary of sound.”
N. Scott Momaday (1934–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have whisky, wine, women, song and slot machines. I won't deny it and I won't apologize for it. If the majority of the people didn't want them they wouldn't be profitable and they would not exist. The fact that they do exist proves to me that the people want them.”
Nucky Johnson (1883–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know, what's so funny is that I actually feel lighter than I ever have in my life — outside of what's happening. But sometimes I think the service of a song is just to capture a moment or an emotion, and I really loved the catharsis of a more plaintive and plain statement.”
Thao Nguyen (born 1984) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "On 'All This And More,' Thao Nguyen Tackles Post-Apocalyptic Omens" in NPR (11 November 2020)
“... Female song is uncommon in birds.”
David Lack (1910–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A song in my head and it won't leave me alone, I should have followed my friends, by now they're probably at home all warm and tucked up in bed Instead I'm stumbling home on my own with no charge on my phone in the east end of London”
Example (musician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Song of Solomon itself was the main inspiration. I read it properly for the first time and fell in love with it immediately. The poetry, the beautiful manner in which love and its complexities are expressed, and the mere belief in love that it’s based on, were all very inspirational to me”
Hope Masike (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She was trying to work out who these men were working for. Were they Qing Song’s minions, random gangsters, specific gangsters, or undercover police? So many enemies, so little time.”
Genevieve Cogman (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wrote my first song when I was 7”
Lara George (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A song called 'Earth Angel' played in her head all morning—also three trumpets and a piano.”
Helen Oyeyemi (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Picked up my kid from school today. "Did you learn anything? 'Cause in the world today, You can't live in a castle far away. Now, talk to me, come talk to me." He said, "Dad, I'm big, but we're smaller than small. In the scheme of things, well, we're nothing at all. Still, every mother's child sings a lonely song. So play with me, come play with me.”
Five for Fighting (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you think he knows the story behind the YMCA song?”
Tim Walz (born 1964) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Walz on Trump's Fitness for Office, C-SPAN video, 10 October 2024
“Melody is what makes a song a memory.”
Chad Lawson (born 1975) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chad Lawson, Pianist & Composer (July 9, 2021)
“I have a long history of crashes," Diva says as she picks up her tape recorder to hear a part of her song about her "crash history." I hit a bus once, my car was completely destroyed. Once again, I had such an accident that even the car's tape recorder failed.”
“By the promise of noon"s blue splendor in the dawn"s first silvery gleam, By the song of the sea that compelleth the path of the rockcleaving stream, I summon thee, recreant dreamer, to rise and follow thy dream.”
Katharine Lee Bates (1859–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've always felt there was a song right around us all the time. When people are missing that, they need to wake up. They need to find their poetry where they are.”
Naomi Shihab Nye (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've always thought of song writing and poem writing as cousins.”
Naomi Shihab Nye (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In this quiet little Indiana town I will aim to bring together the song composers of the land so the young and ambitious may meet the veterans and successful members of the profession.”
Grace Porterfield Polk (1875–1965) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Grace Porterfield Polk: Eminent Composer Champions Unknown American Song Composer". Musical Monitor. 9(October 1919): 653.
“Zimbabwe is a good country and that explains why I decided to do a song in Shona to show how I love the people in the country.”
Magdeline Lesolebe (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source