Artist - musicians, painters, writers, poets, always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life.
Billy Joel

As human beings, we need to know that we are not alone, that we are not crazy or completely out of our minds, that there are other people out there who feel as we do, live as we do, love as we do, who are like us.
Billy Joel

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.
Billy Joel

For whatever reason, not all people are born with the particular gift of being able to express ourselves through music. And, believe me, it is a gift.
Billy Joel

Have you listened to the radio lately? Have you heard the canned, frozen and processed product being dished up to the world as American popular music today?
Billy Joel

Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm - walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.
Billy Joel

I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist.
Billy Joel

I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
Billy Joel

I can't think of one person I've ever met who didn't like some type of music.
Billy Joel

I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. What I do, in my opinion, is by no means extraordinary.
Billy Joel


I definitely prefer being a lover than a fighter.
Billy Joel

I did write a letter to the archdiocese who'd banned the song, Only the Good Die Young, asking them to ban my next record.
Billy Joel

I don't care what consequence it brings, I have been a fool for lesser things.
Billy Joel

I don't know why people thought I was retiring.
Billy Joel

I have a theory that the only original things we ever do are mistakes.
Billy Joel

I have been both praised and criticized. The criticism stung, but the praise sometimes bothered me even more. To have received such praise and honors has always been puzzling to me.
Billy Joel

I keep telling people: Don't make me the poster boy for AA because I don't know a lot about sobriety, but I do know a lot about drinking.
Billy Joel

I never said I wasn't going to play any more. I don't know where that came from.
Billy Joel

I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.
Billy Joel

I sold my house to Jerry Seinfeld.
Billy Joel