Best 226 quotes of Joni Mitchell on MyQuotes

I am a woman of heart and mind, looking for affection and respect, a little passion.

I assume there must be some kind of genetic thrust. My two grandmothers were very different, but both of them were frustrated musicians.

I believe that I am male and I am female.

I came through folk music simply because it was easy to get into it.

I came upon a child of god, He was walking along the road And I asked him, where are you going And this he told me: "I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band I'm going to camp out on the land, I'm going to try an' get my soul free.

I can't remember anything I ever wrote.

I come from pioneer stock, developers of the West, people who went out into the wilderness and set up home with nothing but a pair of oxen.

I conceived in art college at the age of 20, near the end of term.

I could drink a case of you, darlin'...and I would still be on my feet, yes I would still be on my feet.

I'd had a rough childhood.

I didn't think I had much of a following in the South. I thought I was anonymous down there so I kept to the South. But I found in certain pockets that I was quite recognizable and I just hit a wig store.

I do have this reputation for being a serious person.

I don't know who I am but you know, life is for learning.

I don't like to make fluffy little songs, but now I want to make some light songs.

I don't like being too looked up at or too looked down on. I prefer meeting in the middle to being worshipped or spat out.

I don't understand why Europeans and South Americans can take more sophistication. Why is it that Americans need to hear their happiness major and their tragedy minor, and as jazzy as they can handle is a seventh chord? Are they not experiencing complex emotions?

I dreamed I saw the bombers riding shot gun in the sky and they were turning into butterflies above our nation.

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.

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

If you see yourself as a kingly type, then you need your serfs and your army and so on around you.

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

I got in before SoHo was SoHo. It was just Little Italy when I was in there. It's still off the touristy track. It's just away from the Saturday action, the crowds and everything. It's too expensive. It's insane. You've got to be a billionaire to live on Manhattan now.

I had made all these rules for myself: I'm not writing social commentary, I'm not writing love songs.

I hang my laundry on the line when I write.

I hate show business.

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

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.

I have lost my credibility as a hit maker because of these side excursions into other branches of music; by not being consistent. Consistency seems to be all-important.

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.

I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate.

I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate. I thought, that's interesting, because I believe a total unwillingness to cooperate is what is necessary to be an artist — not for perverse reasons, but to protect your vision. The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music. That's why I spend my time now painting.

I know my generation - a lot of them, they're getting old now, and they want to think back fondly, they want to kid themselves. A lot of them think, 'Yeah, we were the best.' That's the kiss of death. That's non-growth. And also that's very bad for the world.

I learned from admiration and osmosis.

I liked playing in small clubs. I really liked holding the attention of thirty or forty people. I never liked the roar of the big crowd.

I like my freedom. I like to do my own grocery shopping. People do recognize you. They are kind of shocked. Some people like it. It makes them feel at ease. It confirms their hopes that you are in fact similar to them.

I live in a box of paints I'm frightened by the devil And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid

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 loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He gets a bad rap; hes very misunderstood. Hes a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers.

I love you when I forget about me.

I'm a fine artist working in a commercial arena, so that's my cross to bear

I'm a little young for retirement.

I'm a method actress in my songs, which is why it's hard to sing them.

I'm a painter first, and a musician second.

I'm drinking champagne, got the head phones up high, can't numb you out.

I met a redneck on a Grecian isle who did the Goat Dance very well.

I met a woman She had a mouth like yours She knew your life She knew your devils and your deeds And she said "Go to him, stay with him if you can But be prepared to bleed

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

In a pure anonymous encounter you find a world alive and full of character. In New York, the street adventures are incredible. There are a thousand stories in a single block. You see the stories in people's faces. You hear the songs immediately. Here, in Los Angeles, there are fewer characters because they are all inside automobiles.

I never really wanted to be a star. I didn't like entering a room with all eyes on me. I still don't really like the attention of a birthday party.

Innocence is drowned in anarchy. The best lack conviction given time to think, and the worst are full of passion without mercy.