Quotes from Judy Collins

When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go... The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!

I may like the Blizzard best, of all the songs I have written.

I have friends who've tried suicide many times and haven't succeeded. I myself made an attempt, so I had a connection with that sort of group of people who have tried suicide at one time in their lives.

Recovering from the suicide of a loved one, you need all the help you can get, so I very much recommend a meditation program. The whole picture of how to recover from this has to do with body, mind, and spirit. That's applicable to any kind of depression.

I look in the mirror through the eyes of the child that was me.

In Judaism, it is taught that there are three stages of grief to be endured. First there is weeping, for we all must weep for what we have lost. Second comes silence, for in the silence we understand solace, beauty, and comfort from something greater than ourselves. Third comes singing, for in singing we pour out our hearts and regain our voice.

Writing is the voice that calls us from dreams, that peeks out of the corner of our eyes when we think no one is looking, the longing that breaks out hearts even when we think we should be happiest, and to which we cannot give a name.

I think people who are creative are the luckiest people on earth. I know that there are no shortcuts, but you must keep your faith in something Greater than You, and keep doing what you love. Do what you love, and you will find the way to get it out to the world.

There are no accidents in memory, for memory has its own reasons and its own logic. What I remember is what happened to me as I best recall it.

There is an old saying that every time you sigh, a drop of blood falls from your heart. It seems I sigh more now than I ever did, and that probably means my heart has lost many tear-shaped drops. I have lived my life, as we all do, between these sighs, between these drops of blood.

The inner wars, and the outer ones, go on while I pray and struggle; sometimes in the middle of a dark night of the soul I wonder how they became my wars to fight. And then I hear a voice that says, "Why not me?

friend of mine says that every time I judge myself harshly, I draw a drop of blood from my heart. So easy does it!

When we sing, we can do anything—change the world, bring peace, be our best selves at last. When we sing, our hearts can lift and fly, over the troubled waters and over the years.

Leonard (Cohen) never broke my heart, but his songs have, every time I sing or hear one of them. As Leonard says, "There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in.

we floated like water lilies on a pond, dreaming of a billion suns

For songs are the heart of our memory and they let us live the search for meaning in our lives again and again.

I did not drink because of my problems. I had problems because I drank. It would take me twenty-three years to figure that out.

But the odds against me were getting higher each day. I, who was my own worst enemy, needed a best friend. I thought booze was my friend. I did not know I was in a fight—not just with my lawyers, not just with my husband, but also with my disease. I didn't know I could not win this one on my own, that it would take years, and a change of mind and heart, to win the battle with an opponent I could not even see.

I didn't know it was the booze, always the booze, that brought on the darkness.

A classic song has much mystery as well as mastery in its form; it sits still in the mind, throwing light on the past and the future, often bringing tears to our eyes, for it reaches into deep emotional wells that are often forgotten in the rush of the moment. The songs that touch me are on a very high level in terms of form and classic structure, and "Both Sides Now" has all of the requirements to make it irresistible.

I have always had a soft spot for Canadian writers. There is something expansive and yet intimate about their songs, broad as the northwestern plains and as comfortable as having a cup of coffee out on a pinewood porch with a friend. From Ed McCurdy to Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen, from Joni Mitchell to Ian and Sylvia Tyson, hearing their songs is hearing the truth. And, as the man says, "when you've heard the truth, the rest is just cheap whiskey.

In an interview after Just Roll Tape was released, Stephen (Stills) said: "There are three things men can do with women: love them, suffer for them, or turn them into literature. I've had my share of success and failure at all three.

I think of the great songs that have carried me along, songs I have sung with you, and for you, all over the world—songs that have carried all of us in rough seas as well as tranquil times, songs that have healed our hearts and kept us going. After all these years, I still believe that music can change the world, and as long as there is music, the dreams will never die.

I have found that people want and need to explore this subject in their own lives, that the discussion brings needed relief—to all of us. For we all, being human, have some suicide story in our past or our future.