Top 289 Quotes & Sayings by Billy Joel - Page 2

Say goodbye to the oldies, but goodies, because the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems

Call me a joker, call me a fool, right at this moment I'm totally cool.

Some people stay away from the door for the chance of it opening up.

There are people who have lost every trace of human kindness.

I believe that all important matters have to be settled here, not in the clouds somewhere after we kick off.

Don't go changing to try and please me You never let me down before Don't imagine you're too familiar And I don't see you anymore I would not leave you in times of trouble We never could have come this far I took the good times, I'll take the bad times I'll take you just the way you are Don't go trying some new fashion Don't change the color of your hair. [...] I could not love you any better I love you just the way you are.

I've reached the age where competence is a turn-on.

They say there's a heaven for those who wait, some say it's better I say it ain't.

Some people stay far away from the door if there's a chance of it opening up. They hear a voice in the hall outside and hope that it just passes by.

We're only human, we're supposed to make mistakes.

Slow down you're doing fine You can't be everything you want to be before your time.

You may be wrong, but you may be right.

I tell the audience every night, "I hope you didn't pay more than face value on that ticket, because we ain't worth more than that, and you ain't gonna get any more than that."

Someday we'll all be gone, but lullabies go on and on / They never die, that's how you and I will be

You should never argue with a crazy mind, you ought to know my now.

Critics have said I write without spontaneity, in cold blood. I don't. I write in hot blood.

Advice is cheap; you can take it from me.

The graduations hang on the wall, but they never really helped us at all.

You've got to be hard, like the rock in that old rock & roll.

Only the good die young.

There's an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin.

You'll learn more from your accidents than anything that you could ever learn at school.

Artist - musicians, painters, writers, poets, always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life.

Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue.

Hot funk, cold punk, even if it's old junk, it's still rock and roll to me.

you may be right, I may be crazy, but it just might be a lunatic you're looking for

Maybe this won't last very long but you feel so right and I could be wrong. Maybe I've been hoping too hard. I've gone this far and it's more than I hope for.

It's OK if you mess up. You should give yourself a break.

Videos destroyed the vitality of rock and roll. Before that, music said, "Listen to me." Now it says, "Look at me."

Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes; I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again

We might be laughing a bit too loud, but that never hurt no one

Don't be afraid to try again everyone goes south every now and then.

I'm not sure about life after this; god knows I'm not a spiritual man.

Most people you'd tell "I'm gonna be a musician," they'd say, "you're crazy, you're gonna starve, you're gonna be poor, a drug addict, go to jail, you'll never make it, there's too much competition, it's a terrible business," etc. But my chorus teacher in high school said, "you've got what it takes to be a really good professional musician, you should consider it." That was an epiphany for me. So I thought, well, maybe I can help somebody, too.

People pay a lot of money to go see shows now, they don't wanna know about your technical problems, or if you're not feeling good, they don't wanna know we have a glitch. It's their night, you better do something to earn that money.

Even when I stop performing or stop making records I won't stop being creative. Songwriting is a good outlet.

Black and white is how it should be, but shades of grey are the colors I see.

I've come to realize that life is not a musical comedy, it's a Greek tragedy.

I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own.

You're having a hard time and lately you don't feel so good; You're getting a bad reputation in your neighborhood. It's alright, it's alright; Sometimes that's what it takes. You're only human, you're allowed to make your share of mistakes.

We all have a face that we hide away forever, and we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone.

I didn't graduate high school, so I never got a teacher's education, I'm mostly self-read, self-taught. I always loved music, so I would probably either be in a band with another group of people, or an arranger, a producer, a musicologist, a music history guy, something to do with music. Either that, or I would probably be in jail. Or dead.

Some love is just a lie of the heart, the cold remains of what began with a passionate heart.

I've lived long enough to have learned, the closer you get to the fire, the more you get burned.

She can kill with her smile, she can wound with her eyes.

'Our parents' generation had it a lot tougher than we did. They had to live through the Depression, World War II, and then they had to, you know, try to pick up the pieces of their lives and bring up their children. And, it was a great example for us. I guess we grew up with a certain amount of the ethics our parents had, which is, you know: work hard, make your own way, be independent.

every time I've held a rose, It seems I only felt the thorns

I'm sure you have some cosmic rationale, but here you are with your faith and your Peter Pan advice.

I don't know why I go to extremes.

The joy of life is made up of obscure and seemingly mundane victories that give us our own small satisfactions.

I'm in a New York state of mind

I started taking piano lessons when I was about four years old. My parents were both musicians. So I took piano lessons. I didn't like the lessons very much, but I was enchanted by music. Music always transported me somewhere. Singing made feel good and being able to play the piano made me feel good.

I'm a statistic in a system that a civil servant dominates.

I said I love you and that's forever And this I promise from the heart I could not love you any better I love you just the way you are.

In every heart there is a room, A sanctuary safe and strong, To heal the wounds from lovers past, Until a new one comes along

Following a code of silence, you're never gonna lose the anger.

This is the time to remember cause it will not last forever. These are the days to hold onto cause we won't although we'll want to.

I'm single but interviewing.

And the only people I fear are those who never have doubts... Save us all from arrogant men, and all the causes they're for.

Do what's good for you Or you're not good for anybody