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James Taylor Quotes

Powerful James Taylor for Daily Growth

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

- James Taylor

Happy, My Life, Going, Gig

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.

- James Taylor

Some, Very, Shared, Cases

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

- James Taylor

See, Love-Hate, Music World, Grammys

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.

- James Taylor

Bus, Very, Your, Unstable

A concert is always like a feast day to me.

- James Taylor

Me, Always, Like, Feast

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

- James Taylor

Brazil, Anything, Musical, Ireland

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.

- James Taylor

Go, Here, Over, Lyric

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.

- James Taylor

Some, Activity, About, Odd

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.

- James Taylor

Go, Say, Lasts, Foolish

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

- James Taylor

Myself, Forward, Figure, Retire

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

- James Taylor

Benefits, Once, Hugely, Two-Way

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

- James Taylor

Think, Rock Star, I Think, Elton

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

- James Taylor

Blessings, Against, Turned, Odds

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.

- James Taylor

Hours, Come, Phase, Unplug

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

- James Taylor

Something, Around, Read, Wander

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.

- James Taylor

Think, I Think, Still, Surprises

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.

- James Taylor

Father, Some, North, Cello

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.

- James Taylor

Song, Very, Theatrical, Melancholy

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

- James Taylor

Process, Songwriting, Too, Uncontrolled

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

- James Taylor

Music, Think, Self-Absorbed, Sentimental

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

- James Taylor

Music, Play, Works, Stadium

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

- James Taylor

Will, Always, Compelling, Humorous

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.

- James Taylor

Through, Clear, Being, Boat

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.

- James Taylor

Emotional Experiences, Being Quiet

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.

- James Taylor

Controls, Hours, Six, Addict

I was a functional addict.

- James Taylor

Functional, Addict

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.

- James Taylor

Been, Recognized, Very, Celebrated

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

- James Taylor

Marriage, Responsible, Up, Sobering

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.

- James Taylor

Nature, Think, I Think, Human Consciousness

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.

- James Taylor

Soul, I Think, North, Different Things

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