Eric Clapton Quotes

21 Sourced Quotes

Up until I became a father, it was all about self-obsession. But then I learned exactly what it's all about: the delight of being a servant.

Eric Clapton
Music became a healer for me. And I learned to listen with all my being. I found that it could wipe away all fear and confusion...

Eric Clapton
For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.

Eric Clapton
In the lowest moments of my life, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink any more if I was dead. It was the only thing I thought was worth living for, and the idea that people were about to try and remove me from alcohol was so terrible that I drank and drank and drank, and they had to practically carry me into the clinic.

Eric Clapton
At first the music almost repelled me, it was so intense, and this man made no attempt to sugarcoat what he was trying to say, or play. It was hard-core, more than anything I had ever heard. After a few listenings I realized that, on some level, I had found the master, and that following this man's example would be my life's work.

Eric Clapton
Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven? Would it be the same If I saw you in heaven?

Eric Clapton
One of the most beneficial things I've ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut.

Eric Clapton
"Tears in Heaven" is a tricky one because I can't play that anymore. It would be inappropriate to use the memory of my son or what I felt at that time to gain any kind of influence with the audience.

Eric Clapton
And I don't like having my picture taken. I'm almost like an old African in that sense. I think it steals a bit of the soul.

Eric Clapton
Rock is like a battery that must always go back to blues to get recharged.

Eric Clapton
Layla, you got me on my knees. Layla, I'm begging, darling please. Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind.

Eric Clapton
I have always been resistant to doctrine, and any spirituality I had experienced thus far in my life had been much more abstract and not aligned with any recognized religion. For me, the most trustworthy vehicle for spirituality had always proven to be music. It cannot be manipulated, or politicized, and when it is, that becomes immediately obvious.

Eric Clapton
Music will always find its way to us, with or without business, politics, religion, or any other bullshit attached. Music survives everything, and like God, it is always present. It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance.

Eric Clapton
"Layla" was like striking gold. There's that thing about when you're looking in the water and the sand and suddenly you see the sparkle. It's never, for me anyway, "Oh, people will like this." It's, "This is the mother lode here!"

Eric Clapton
Risk is trying to control something you are powerless over.

Eric Clapton
All I am certain of right now is that I don't want to go anywhere, and that's not bad for someone who always used to run.

Eric Clapton
In my lowest moments, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink anymore if I was dead.

Eric Clapton
The music scene as I look at it today is a little different from when I was growing up. The percentages are roughly the same - 95 percent rubbish, 5 percent pure.

Eric Clapton
I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him.

Eric Clapton
[Unplugged] was also the cheapest to produce and required the least amount of preparation and work. But if you want to know what it actually cost me, go to Ripley and visit the grave of my son.

Eric Clapton
My selective memory of what drinking was like told me that standing at the bar in a pub, on a summer's evening with a long, tall glass of lager and lime was heaven, and I chose not to remember the nights on which I had sat with a bottle of vodka, a gram of coke and a shotgun, contemplating suicide.

Eric Clapton