Quotes from Billy Joel

I think historically America has been pretty tolerant. It seems when there's a mass influx from one place, that's when it becomes problematic for Americans.

Oh, she takes care of herself. She can wait if she wants. She's ahead of her time. Oh, and she never gives out. And she never gives in. She just changes her mind.

Know what you love and do what you love. If you don't do what you love, you're just wasting your time.

There was only really one accident that was kinda bad but it was nothing to do with booze, just bad luck... I was having a hard time a couple of years ago... I'm a good driver, I just had bad luck.

This is our moment, here at the cross-roads of time. Time is relentless and as the past dissappears, we're on the verge of all things new.

I'm writing new music all the time. I'm just not writing pop stuff. It's not my goal.

Do what you love, and you'll always love what you do

Twyla Tharp put it together from the material I wrote and recorded over my whole career. I thought it was pretty good, but how objective could I be?

I said I love you and that's forever And this I promise from the heart I could not love you any better I love you just the way you are.

Artists - musicians, painters, writers, poets - always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life.

So I would choose to be with you, That's if the choice were mine to make, But you can make decisions too, And you can have this heart to break

Maybe this won't last very long but you feel so right and I could be wrong. Maybe I've been hoping too hard. I've gone this far and it's more than I hope for.

There's nothing better than good sex. But bad sex? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is better than bad sex.

I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.

You want to give people a reason to hate my guts more? I'm making more money.

More than art, more than literature, music is universally accessible.

I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.

I'm probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14 - to meet women.

In an age of incompetence, I've been able to last in this crazy business. I actually know how to play my ax and write a song. That's my job.

I'm a history nut.

Like family, we are tied to each other. This is what all good musicians understand.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

When I was a young musician, the only option available to pursue secondary education in music was to attend a classical conservatory.

When I look at great works of art or listen to inspired music, I sense intimate portraits of the specific times in which they were created.