Quotes from Paula Cole

I'm used to adversity and working really well in difficult situations. It was hard for me to accept the success.

I think of my shows as family reunions. I give 100% every time. I just do. It's a huge therapeutic release. Also I love my touring family. And I love my audiences very much.

I was curious and hungry at a young age, and jazz was such a mystery to me, an ocean where you can express yourself in the moment. It represented freedom, it represented wearing wings and going somewhere with music.

I'm accepting I'm not living that younger, dreamed version of myself in the big city.

The older I get, the more I see that there really aren't huge zeniths of happiness or a huge abyss of darkness as much as there used to be. I tend to walk a middle ground.

But at the age of 44, I sure hope to be a better businesswoman. I want to get the music straight to my fans.

The monsters are in your own head.

Being a writer is a very private, internal process. Ultimately I am more the writer, being an introvert.

The flower has opened, has been in the sun and is unafraid. I'm taking more chances; I'm bold and proud.

I'd love to act. I feel that it's another naked, mysterious challenge, like jazz. It kind of intrigues me in the same way.

So I'm writing more highly personalized and intellectual music, and I think that's good. It might take longer to find me, but I think that niche is perhaps underserved, so I'm going to serve that.

I like women who can throw a ball and laugh loud and have some spine, and I like men who don't mind cooking dinner.

I struggled with being in the public eye, losing my anonymity when my star rose quickly in the late 90's. But I need the challenge of showing up and getting up there to spill my guts and connect with my loyal folks.

It's me who is my enemy Me who beats me up Me who makes the monsters Me who strips my confidence.

I wanted to be a cheerleader, like my sister was - all the most popular and beautiful girls are cheerleaders and I wanted that, and it demolished this vision of myself. That's when I found the piano, when music saved me; that's when I first attempted to write my own songs.

The river was always there inside of me, but I was very shy. I could see that this was my path. I felt destiny in my own music.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

I've left Bethlehem and I feel free... I've left the girl I was supposed to be and some day I'll be born.

It's me who is my enemy Me who beats me up Me who makes the monsters Me who strips my confidence.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

I find that the older I get, the more I see that there really aren't huge zeniths of happiness or a huge abyss of darkness as much as there used to be.

The older I get, the more I see that there really aren't huge zeniths of happiness or a huge abyss of darkness as much as there used to be. I tend to walk a middle ground.

Walking is magic. Can't recommend it highly enough. I read that Plato and Aristotle did much of their brilliant thinking together while ambulating. The movement, the meditation, the health of the blood pumping, and the rhythm of footsteps...this is a primal way to connect with one's deeper self.

Just watching my cats can make me happy.