Joni Mitchell

There's a man who's been out sailing In a decade full of dreams And he takes her to a schooner And he treats her like a queen Bearing beads from California With their amber stones and green He has called her from the harbor He has kissed her with his freedom He has heard her off to starboard In the breaking and the breathing Of the water weeds While she was busy being free

Unlike some of my peers, I haven't really hit a writer's block. When I hit a block I just paint, which is an old crop rotation trick.

This is a nation that has lost the ability to be self-critical, and that makes a lie out of the freedoms.

You wake up one day and suddenly realize that your youth is behind you, even though you're still young at heart.

I have an aversion to being mislabeled. Here's a label I'd accept: I'm an 'individual.' I'm someone who can't follow, and doesn't want to lead.

What I do is unusual: chordal movements that have never been used before, changing keys and modalities mid-song.

At the point where I'm trying to force something and it's not happening, and I'm getting frustrated with, say, writing a poem, I can go and pick up the brushes and start painting. At the point where the painting seems to not be going anywhere, I go and pick up the guitar.

I still believe in the power of the word, that words inspire.

If you're smart or rich or lucky _x000D_ Maybe you'll beat the laws of man _x000D_ But the inner laws of spirit _x000D_ And the outer laws of nature _x000D_ No man can

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.

In some ways, my gift for music and writing was born out of tragedy, really, and loss.

Depression can be the sand that makes the pearl. Most of my best _x000D_ work came out of it.

Fame is a series of misunderstandings surrounding a name.

The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music.

My goal as a writer is more to comfort than to disturb.

Happiness is the best facelift.

I see the entire world as Eden, and every time you take an inch of it away, you must do so with respect.

I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That's when I sat down and wrote the song.

I lost my daughter at 21. I had to give her up because I was broke, no place to take her, no money to take her. That was very traumatic.

I get the urge for going/But I never seem to go.

I have always thought of myself as a painter derailed by circumstance.