Joni Mitchell Quotes

“Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone.
They paved paradise,
And put up a parking lot.”

“Hey farmer, farmer,
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!”

“people will tell you were they have gone, they'll tell you where to go, but until you get there for yourself you never really know.”

“Will you take me as I am? Strung out on another man… California, I'm comin' home.”

“everything comes and goes; pleasure moves on too early and trouble leaves too slow”

“Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as a northern star"
And I said, constantly in the darkness,
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar.”

“Love is touching souls.”

“Tears and fears and feeling proud,
To say "I love you" right out loud,
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds,
I’ve looked at life that way.
But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I’ve changed
Well something’s lost, but something’s gained
In living ev’ry day.”

“I’ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow,
It’s love’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know love at all.”

“Secrets and sharing soda,
That's how our time began.
Love is a story told to a friend
It's second hand.”

“By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong”

“Any time I make a record it's followed by a painting period. It's good crop rotation.”

“I remember the time you told me, you said
"Love is touching souls,"
Surely you've touched mine, cause
Part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time.”

“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”

“All romantics meet the same fate some day.
Drunk and cynical and boring someone in some dark cafe.”

“Chase away the demons, and they will take the angels with them.”

“So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way.”

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

“It's life's illusions that I recall, I really don't know life at all”

“Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine,
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you, darling
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet.”

“Daydreamin' drugs the pain of living.”

“There are things to confess that enrich the world, and things that need not be said.”

“Won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll talk in present tenses”

“Laughing and crying, you know it's the same release.”

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

“I need to explore and discover and so that has given me, really, to some what seems like courage, but really it's just in my stars, there's nothing I can do about it.... I guess I'll just take my award and run now.”

“I was demanding of myself a deeper and greater honesty, more and more revelation in my work in order to give it back to the people where it goes into their lives and nourishes them and changes their direction and makes light bulbs go off in their head and makes them feel. And it isn't vague, it strikes against the very nerves of their life and in order to do that you have to strike against the very nerves of your own.”

“There's been a tremendous amount of growth. An actress is not expected to continue to play her ingenue roles, you know, I've written myself roles to grow into gracefully, but there is no growing into gracefully in the pop world. Basically the reason I'm so unruly in this business is because I never wanted to be a human jukebox.”

“Some are friendly
Some are cutting
Some are watching it from the wings
Some are standing in the centre giving to get something.”

“Rows and flows of angel hair,
And ice cream castles in the air,
And feather canyons ev’rywhere,
I’ve looked at clouds that way.
But now they only block the sun,
They rain and snow on ev’ryone,
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way.”

“That's one thing that's always, like, been a difference between, like, the performing arts, and being a painter, you know. A painter does a painting, and he paints it, and that's it, you know. He has the joy of creating it, it hangs on a wall, and somebody buys it, and maybe somebody buys it again, or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere until he dies. But he never, you know, nobody ever, nobody ever said to Van Gogh, 'Paint a Starry Night again, man!”

“It's coming on Christmas,
They're cutting down trees.
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace.
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on”

“Friends have told her "Not so proud"
Neighbors trying to sleep are yelling "Not so loud"
Lovers in anger, "Block of ice"
Harder and harder just to be nice.”

“I wanna be strong,
I wanna laugh along,
I wanna belong to the living.
Alive, alive, I wanna get up and jive,
Wanna wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive.”

“They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em.”

“You go down to the pick up station
Craving warmth and beauty
You settle for less than fascination
A few drinks later you're not so choosy
When the closing lights strip off the shadows
On this strange new flesh you've found
Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness.”

“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.”

“In our possessive coupling
So much could not be expressed
So now I'm returning to myself
These things that you and I suppressed.”

“They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
and a swinging hot spot.”

“Joni, you have more class than Richard Nixon, Mick Jagger, and Gomer Pyle combined!”