Explore Quotes by Elvis Costello

My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant.

And over the last ten years, after my work with the Brodsky Quartet, I had the opportunity to write arrangements for chamber group, chamber orchestra, jazz orchestra, symphony orchestra even.

I believe that music is connected by human passions and curiosities rather than by marketing strategies.

There's no such thing as an original sin.

Why'd you have to say that there's always someone who can do it better than I can And don't you think that I know that walkin' on water won't make me a miracle man

[Commercial radio] is owned by one or two corporations now, and they're not in the music business. They're in the advertising business.... So let's not kid ourselves. If you want to hear music, go buy a guitar.

You've got a chemistry class; I want a piece of your mind; You don't know what you started when you mixed it up with mine.

I can't say anymore than I love you. Anything else would be a waste of breath.

If I am frightened then I can hide it If I am crying, I'll call it laughter If I am haunted, I'll call it my imaginary friend If I am bleeding I'll call it wine But if you leave me then I am broken And if I'm broken then only death remains

I'm not even sure what I want, but that's not the point - it's that I want it now.

It's the damage that we do and never know. It's the words that we don't say that scare me so.

The battle with the bottle is nothing so novel.