Top 200 Billy Joel Quotes (2025 Update)
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201. “I always wanted to try to be a teacher even before I was in the music business. I liked history, and good teachers made an impact on me.”

— Billy Joel

202. “When I was a young musician, the only option available to pursue secondary education in music was to attend a classical conservatory.”

— Billy Joel

203. “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

204. “I’m a piano player. I never thought of myself as a singer, at all. I was always trying to sound like somebody else. I don’t like my own voice, I like Ray Charles, Robert Plant, I like Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, people that have an edge in their voice.”

— Billy Joel

205. “I compare songwriting to childbirth. How many kids can you have before your uterus explodes?”

— Billy Joel

206. “Following a code of silence, you’re never gonna lose the anger.”

— Billy Joel

207. “Critics have said I write without spontaneity, in cold blood. I don’t. I write in hot blood.”

— Billy Joel

208. “I tell the audience every night, “I hope you didn’t pay more than face value on that ticket, because we ain’t worth more than that, and you ain’t gonna get any more than that.””

— Billy Joel

209. “It’s really hard to make a living as a musician. It’s almost impossible.”

— Billy Joel

210. “People always think I was just playing in a piano bar, but I only did that for about six months. The rest of the time I was playing in bands.”

— Billy Joel

211. “Twyla Tharp put it together from the material I wrote and recorded over my whole career. I thought it was pretty good, but how objective could I be?”

— Billy Joel

212. “I see the children with their boredom and their vacant stares.”

— Billy Joel

213. “If you search for truthfulness, you might as well be blind.”

— Billy Joel

214. “When I was 19, I made my first good week’s pay as a club musician. It was enough money for me to quit my job at the factory and still pay the rent and buy some food. I freaked.”

— Billy Joel

215. “I definitely prefer being a lover than a fighter.”

— Billy Joel

216. “Your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation.”

— Billy Joel

217. “Move to California – my first impression of the Wild West.”

— Billy Joel

218. “What if she figures out you’re not very smart?”

— Billy Joel

219. “Even when I stop performing or stop making records I won’t stop being creative. Songwriting is a good outlet.”

— Billy Joel

220. “We are living in a time when American popular music is finally being recognized as one of our most successful exports. The demand is huge.”

— Billy Joel

221. “I’m not the kind of guy who wants to be on a pedestal.”

— Billy Joel

222. “I’m writing new music all the time. I’m just not writing pop stuff. It’s not my goal.”

— Billy Joel

223. “I can’t think of one person I’ve ever met who didn’t like some type of music.”

— Billy Joel

224. “I look in the mirror and think, ‘I don’t look like a rock star.’ I talked about this with Bono and we looked at each other and decided we look like a pair of bricklayers.”

— Billy Joel

225. “I’m single but interviewing.”

— Billy Joel

226. “I never said I wasn’t going to play any more. I don’t know where that came from.”

— Billy Joel

227. “Hope you don’t think this is Billy Joel unplugged. I’m a piano player. I’m already unplugged.”

— Billy Joel

228. “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

229. “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

230. “I’m kind of putting my toe back in the water and seeing how it feels. We’re going to be doing stuff we haven’t done for years and years and years. So I’m looking forward to seeing how this stuff flies.”

— Billy Joel