Quotes By Billy Joel

I have been both praised and criticized. The criticism stung, but the praise sometimes bothered me even more. To have received such praise and honors has always been puzzling to me.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

I've crashed my car three times.

There's nothing better than good sex. But bad sex? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is better than bad sex.

It feels great to have a #1 album.

I was drawn to boxing because I got beat up as a kid. I was the kid with the piano books in a New York neighbourhood.

If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.

I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.

When I was a young musician, the only option available to pursue secondary education in music was to attend a classical conservatory.

I have a theory that the only original things we ever do are mistakes.

When I was 19, I made my first good week's pay as a club musician. It was enough money for me to quit my job at the factory and still pay the rent and buy some food. I freaked.

There's a deep-seated paranoia that Americans have about not being Americans or something.

In a way, we are magicians. We are alchemists, sorcerers and wizards. We are a very strange bunch. But there is great fun in being a wizard.

I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist.

More than art, more than literature, music is universally accessible.

If you tell kids they can't have something, that's what they want.

I can't think of one person I've ever met who didn't like some type of music.

Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm - walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.

I sold my house to Jerry Seinfeld.

I don't care what consequence it brings, I have been a fool for lesser things.

I did write a letter to the archdiocese who'd banned the song, Only the Good Die Young, asking them to ban my next record.

The good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.

I'm probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14 - to meet women.

Most people are satisfied with the junk food being sold as music.

I think historically America has been pretty tolerant. It seems when there's a mass influx from one place, that's when it becomes problematic for Americans.

You want to give people a reason to hate my guts more? I'm making more money.

I definitely prefer being a lover than a fighter.

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.

Musicians now find themselves in the unlikely position of being legitimate. At least the IRS thinks so.

Have you listened to the radio lately? Have you heard the canned, frozen and processed product being dished up to the world as American popular music today?