Explore Quotes by Joni Mitchell

Nobody understood The Reoccurring Dream, but after September 11, when we were coerced to do a national duty and go out and shop, surely people could begin to see what I was getting at.

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.

My style of songwriting is influenced by cinema. I'm a frustrated filmmaker. A fan once said to me, 'Girl, you make me see pictures in my head!' and I took that as a great compliment. That's exactly my intention.

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.

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

When I came to California, it was the mecca of the world. Every young person on the planet wanted to be here.

When the world becomes a massive mess with nobody at the helm, it's time for artists to make their mark.

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

The songwriting was almost like something I did while I was waiting for my daughter to come back.

Van Gogh was impulsive.

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

My name had gone stale, and no matter how progressive I got, it was my time to die.

Paul Simon started piling up a lot of words, more than the bar could handle, and I stopped!

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.

Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block.

My heart is broken in the face of the stupidity of my species.

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

I get the same charge from juxtaposition of colors as I do from juxtaposition of chords.

If I'm censoring for anyone, it's for my parents. They are very old-fashioned and moral people. They still don't understand me that well.

I hate show business.

I'm irresponsible to my career in order to paint. Because painting is obsessive. I forget to eat. I forget to sleep.