Carly Simon

I sought some kind of freedom in music, in the promise of transcendence and the idea that the purity and the innocence of a mythical god could somehow deliver me from darkness.

I have simply found a way of loving through whatever absences or dejections have fallen like tree branches in my path.

As a child I used to read Gone with the Wind over and over again. I wanted to be Scarlett O’Hara. I never wanted to believe that it was possible that there could be infidelity. I never wanted to be believe that it was even possible for a man to look another way, even for a moment. My bubble of monogamy was pierced in a harsh way.

Actually, I think the more Ben [Taylor] sings, the less like James he sounds.

I never identified with the feminist movement in a strong way. I just kind of lived it. I didn’t politicize it. I didn’t follow any written rules to what it meant to be a feminist. I had my own sense of what was right and wrong.

You can repeat the mistakes of your parents’ marriage or you can go out of your way not to repeat them.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

I’m grateful for all the breaks and honors and opportunities I’ve had, but I always believe I won’t have it made until the humblest black kid in the most remote backwoods of America has it made.

I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some.

I am not prejudiced in any way.

Be bad, but at least don’t be a liar, a deceiver!

Until you’ve lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was.

Life is a helluva lot more fun if you say yes rather than no.

I’m slipping. I’m made of departed dreams and a stubborn fog that feels nothing like a veil.

When you want nothing from anyone else, you’re safe for anyone to be with. Including yourself.

Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.

We must have courage to bet on our ideas, take the calculated risk, and take action!

If the human mind was simple enough to understand, we’d be too simple to understand it.

2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2.

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.