Joni Mitchell citations

“you dont know what you got till its gone”

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

“We are stardust,
We are golden,
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.”

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

“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”

“We love our lovin'…. but not like we love our freedom.”

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

“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.”

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

“Love is touching souls.”

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“And the seasons they go round and round,
And the painted ponies go up and down,
We’re all captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go 'round and 'round and 'round
In the circle game.”

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

“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.”

“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.”