Quotes from Elvis Costello

Don't start me talking I could talk all night My mind goes sleepwalking While I'm putting the world to right.

Oh, I said 'I'm so happy, I could die.' She said 'Drop dead,' then left with another guy.

There are some things you can't cover up with lipstick and powder.

So don't try to touch my heart, it's darker than you think And don't try to read my mind because it's full of disappearing ink

The truth can't hurt you, it's just like the dark. It scares you witless but with time you see things clear and stark

I hear they're givin' you a bad reputation just because you've never been denied. You try to say you've done it all before, baby, you know that you just get tired. Yet everybody loves you so much, girl, I just don't know how you stand the strain. Oh, I, I'm the one who's here tonight, and I don't wanna do it all in vain.

There's a girl in this dress, there's always a girl in distress.

I took my better nature out, drowned it in a babbling stream/took the blossom of my youth and blew it all to smithereens.

Death wears a big hat.

Was it a millionaire who said "imagine no possessions?" A poor little schoolboy who said "we don't need no lessons?

I went ahead and read all of George Bernard Shaw's plays for my own pleasure, because I liked the cut of his beard.

It's a dangerous game that comedy plays. Sometimes it tells you the truth; sometimes it delays it.

You think you're alone until you realize you're in it. Now fear is here to stay, love is here for a visit.

Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking, when I hear the silly things that you say.

She's no angel. He's no saint.

A lot of pop music has come out of people failing to copy their model and accidentally creating something new. The closer you get to your ideal, the less original you sound.

But if I've done something wrong there's no "ifs" and "buts" Cause I love you just as much as I hate your guts

Sometimes I wonder if we're livin' in the same land. Why do you wanna be my friend when I feel like a juggler running out of hands?

I believe that music is connected by human passions and curiosities rather than by marketing strategies.

I was watching while you're dancing away, our love got fractured in the echo and sway. How come everybody wants to be your friend? You know that it still hurts me just to say it.

I don't wanna be a lover, I just wanna be your victim.

Don't get smart or sarcastic He snaps back just like elastic Spare us the theatrics and the verbal gymnastics We break wise guys just like matchsticks

Can a mere song change people's minds? I doubt that it is so, but a song can infiltrate your heart and the heart may change your mind.

Cook was then very handsome in a fey English way and dressed in floor-length, striped djellaba. In the role of the dead-eyed Spiggott, he intoned lines like "You fill me with inertia," while appearing utterly indifferent to the beauties who danced in attendance. It was a scene that might have provided the basic blueprint for what would later become the Pet Shop Boys' career.