Joni Mitchell Quotes

72 Sourced Quotes

Freedom to me is a luxury of being able to follow the path of the heart, to keep the magic in your life. Freedom is necessary for me in order to create, and if I cannot create I don't feel alive.

Joni Mitchell
I met a redneck on a Grecian isle who did the Goat Dance very well.

Joni Mitchell
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star

Joni Mitchell
Inside your own self pity there you swim, in sinking down to drown her voice still haunts you, and only with your laughter can you win.

Joni Mitchell
Innocence is drowned in anarchy. The best lack conviction given time to think, and the worst are full of passion without mercy.

Joni Mitchell
Morgellons is constantly morphing. There are times when it's directly attacking the nervous system, as if you're being bitten by fleas and lice. It's all in the tissue and it's not a hallucination. It was eating me alive, sucking the juices out. I've been sick all my life.

Joni Mitchell
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
and a swinging hot spot.

Joni Mitchell
That's one thing that's always, like, been a difference between, like, the performing arts, and being a painter, you know. A painter does a painting, and he paints it, and that's it, you know. He has the joy of creating it, it hangs on a wall, and somebody buys it, and maybe somebody buys it again, or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere until he dies. But he never, you know, nobody ever, nobody ever said to Van Gogh, 'Paint a Starry Night again, man!' You know? He painted it and that was it.

Joni Mitchell
I met a woman She had a mouth like yours She knew your life She knew your devils and your deeds And she said "Go to him, stay with him if you can But be prepared to bleed

Joni Mitchell
And the seasons they go round and round,
And the painted ponies go up and down,
We're all captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go 'round and 'round and 'round
In the circle game.

Joni Mitchell
Just before our love got lost you said "I am as constant as a northern star" And I said, constantly in the darkness, Where's that at? If you want me I'll be in the bar.

Joni Mitchell
I don't know who I am / but you know, life is for learning.

Joni Mitchell
I've looked at life from both sides now,
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall;
I really don't know life at all.

Joni Mitchell
I came upon a child of god,
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me:
I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm
I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land,
I'm going to try an' get my soul free.

Joni Mitchell
I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall,
I really don't know clouds at all.

Joni Mitchell
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine,
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you, darling
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet.

Joni Mitchell
But now it's just another show, you leave em laughing when you go. And if you care, don't let them know, don't give yourself away.

Joni Mitchell
Tears and fears and feeling proud,
To say "I love you" right out loud,
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds,
I've looked at life that way.
But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living ev'ry day.

Joni Mitchell
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow,
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all.

Joni Mitchell
I was demanding of myself a deeper and greater honesty, more and more revelation in my work in order to give it back to the people where it goes into their lives and nourishes them and changes their direction and makes light bulbs go off in their head and makes them feel. And it isn't vague, it strikes against the very nerves of their life and in order to do that you have to strike against the very nerves of your own.

Joni Mitchell
Hey farmer, farmer,
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Joni Mitchell
I'm not a pitiable creature. It's just that I suffer very eloquently.

Joni Mitchell
Do you want - do you want - do you want to dance with me baby?

Joni Mitchell
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone.
They paved paradise,
And put up a parking lot.

Joni Mitchell
Love is a very hard feeling to keep alive. It's a very fragile plant.

Joni Mitchell
All the people at this party, they've got a lot of style,
They've got stamps of many countries, they've got passport smiles.
Some are friendly, some are cutting, some are watchin' it from the wings,
Some are standin' in the center givin' to get something.

Joni Mitchell
Friends have told her "Not so proud"
Neighbors trying to sleep are yelling "Not so loud"
Lovers in anger, "Block of ice"
Harder and harder just to be nice.

Joni Mitchell
By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation.

Joni Mitchell
They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em.

Joni Mitchell
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow

Joni Mitchell