Quotes from Neil Diamond

You can't plan to write a great song. It just happens to you. It drops in your lap. It's the same thing with a woman.

I came back to performing with a different attitude about performing and myself. I wasn't expecting perfection any more, just hoping for an occasional inspiration.

Song Sung Blue took a lot of compressing and refining, and it has one of my favorite lyrics.

The cardinal rule for any performer is that they should know themselves before they enter the spotlight, and I didn't. I was just Neil and I did what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to get married, so I got married. I was supposed to get a job, so I looked for work.

Money talks, but it don't sing and dance, and it don't walk. And long as I can have you here with me, I'd much rather be, forever in blue jeans.

September morn Do you remember how we danced that night away Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play September morning still can make me feel this way.

Songwriting is different from music, although I don't deny now that it would be nice to have a little more background in music theory.

My music is in young people's lives because it's so much a part of their parents' lives.

Well, I loved singing in the chorus, and there was some connection for me between gospel and choral music.

Touch a man who can't walk up right, and that lame man, he's gonna fly.

The music is key. It has the power to transport you. I go from being a slightly insecure, shy kind of a person offstage, to this super-confident, motivated, entity onstage.

While the sun God will may your day, sing as a song in search of a voice that is silent, and the one God will make for your way.

I get good vibes from people. There is a thread of DNA that runs from the days that I was a young teenager to these days. It feels good to go back there.

Home's the most excellent place of all.

You're alive, you might as well be glad.

I've looked at photographs of myself during concerts and it sometimes looks as if I'm in a fencing move, with a guitar in my hands instead of a sword.

I was always trying to win the world, but somewhere I lost you.

I have a lot of confidence, but little Self-Esteem. This has given me a tremendous creative spark because it forced me to keep proving myself.

Maybe tonight, maybe tonight by the fire all alone you and I. Nothing around but the sound of heart and your sighs.

I don't like all of the music to be serious and deadly.

I may have a little bit of a talent for music, but I've learnt to tap into my own self when I write. When I put the drill bit inside my heart, sometimes I come up with something light and frothy, sometimes with something deep and painful, but it's great to connect with the audience.

I think probably Australians have just a little more taste than most people.

Crackling Rosie make me smile. God, if it lasts for an hour that's alright, to set the world right. Find us a dream that don't ask no questions.

Chelsea Morning is a great Joni Mitchell song and I guess I'm partial to her lyrics because they show me a slightly different perspective on life.