Billy Joel

You've got your passion. You've got your pride. But don't you know that only fools are satisfied? Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true.

Well I never had a place that I could call my very own/That's all right, my love, 'cause you're my home.

If it seems like I've been lost in 'lets remember', If it seems I'm gettin' older and missin' my younger days, well you shoulda known me much better, cause the past is something that never got in my way.

I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. ... I'm probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14-to meet women. ... If you make music for the human needs you have within yourself, then you do it for all humans who need the same things. You enrich humanity with the profound expression of these feelings. ... My songs are like my kids.

No matter what culture you're from, everyone loves music.

Sweetness flows from your appearance and your beauty makes me fall more in love with you. Anytime I feel low, I think about the good times you have given me and everything seems good again.

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

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

The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent.

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.

If you said good-bye to me tonight, There would still be music left to write.

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

They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known.

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

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

It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two

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

I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.

In an age of incompetence, I've been able to last in this crazy business. I actually know how to play my ax and write a song. That's my job.

I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.

Artists - 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.