“I have one piece of music, since 1997, and I don't see it having lyrics. Where does it go in this world? So I haven't recorded it.”
Music
“I see the entire world as Eden, and every time you take an inch of it away, you must do so with respect.”
RespectAll Quotes by Joni Mitchell
“The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music.”
Music“You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it's just complaining.”
Good“In some ways, my gift for music and writing was born out of tragedy, really, and loss.”
Music“I don't understand why Europeans and South Americans can take more sophistication. Why is it that Americans need to hear their happiness major and their tragedy minor, and as jazzy as they can handle is a seventh chord? Are they not experiencing complex emotions?”
Happiness“I see the entire world as Eden, and every time you take an inch of it away, you must do so with respect.”
Respect“I find a lot of poetry to be narcissistic.”
Poetry“I'm a very analytical person, a somewhat introspective person that's the nature of the work I do.”
Nature“Sorrow is so easy to express and yet so hard to tell.”
Sympathy“There was this mountain village in Russia where my music was getting in on some German radio station. I remember this because music used to get up to Saskatchewan from Texas. Late at night after the local station closed down.”
Music“You have this mounting aggressive ignorance with the rabbit's foot of their particular religion. You don't really have any kind of spiritual law, just a kind of a rabid mental illness. The songs are a little slice of life.”
Religion“I come from pioneer stock, developers of the West, people who went out into the wilderness and set up home with nothing but a pair of oxen.”
Home“To enjoy my music, you need depth and emotionality.”
Music“Eventually, with success, I started to feel more and more isolated - like I didn't have a community of artists.”
Success“No one likes to have less than they had before. That's the nature of the human animal.”
Nature“I conceived in art college at the age of 20, near the end of term.”
Age“I see music as fluid architecture.”
Architecture“I hate show business.”
Business“Back then, I didn't have a big organization around me. I was just a kid with a guitar, traveling around. My responsibility basically was to the art, and I had extra time on my hands. There is no extra time now. There isn't enough time.”
Art“We have a war dictator who was not elected, he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way, or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy.”
War