Judy Collins > Quotes

“I look in the mirror through the eyes of the child that was me.”
― Judy Collins

“In Judaism, it is taught that there are three stages of grief to be endured. First there is weeping, for we all must weep for what we have lost. Second comes silence, for in the silence we understand solace, beauty, and comfort from something greater than ourselves. Third comes singing, for in singing we pour out our hearts and regain our voice.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“Writing is the voice that calls us from dreams, that peeks out of the corner of our eyes when we think no one is looking, the longing that breaks out hearts even when we think we should be happiest, and to which we cannot give a name.”
― Judy Collins

“Experience is how life catches up with us and teaches us to love and forgive each other.”
― Judy Collins

“There are no accidents in memory, for memory has its own reasons and its own logic. What I remember is what happened to me as I best recall it.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“There is an old saying that every time you sigh, a drop of blood falls from your heart. It seems I sigh more now than I ever did, and that probably means my heart has lost many tear-shaped drops. I have lived my life, as we all do, between these sighs, between these drops of blood.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“The inner wars, and the outer ones, go on while I pray and struggle; sometimes in the middle of a dark night of the soul I wonder how they became my wars to fight. And then I hear a voice that says, “Why not me?”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“I think people who are creative are the luckiest people on earth. I know that there are no shortcuts, but you must keep your faith in something Greater than You, and keep doing what you love. Do what you love, and you will find the way to get it out to the world.”
― Judy Collins

“But the odds against me were getting higher each day. I, who was my own worst enemy, needed a best friend. I thought booze was my friend. I did not know I was in a fight—not just with my lawyers, not just with my husband, but also with my disease. I didn’t know I could not win this one on my own, that it would take years, and a change of mind and heart, to win the battle with an opponent I could not even see.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“A classic song has much mystery as well as mastery in its form; it sits still in the mind, throwing light on the past and the future, often bringing tears to our eyes, for it reaches into deep emotional wells that are often forgotten in the rush of the moment. The songs that touch me are on a very high level in terms of form and classic structure, and “Both Sides Now” has all of the requirements to make it irresistible.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“Traditional music is the foundation of what the folk music revival was about—songs of unknown authorship handed down through the generations. I keep returning to these old, classic songs, often bringing them back to find new meaning and fresh interpretations. “Danny Boy,” “The Lark in the Morning,” “Barbara Allen,” “So Early, Early in the Spring,” and “The Gypsy Rover” have lasted for years and will endure for years more. They touch your heart, and for anyone trying to write new and original songs, they stand as an unspoken challenge: make something as good and as timeless as this and you will have won the heart of your listener. You also will have added something to the story of humankind. Traditional songs didn’t just spring from the earth, of course. Somebody somewhere came up with a melody through which to tell a story, and that story-song got passed along. These songs survive in the memory of a culture because they tell stories of universal emotion and experience—of love, heartbreak, mourning, abandonment, victory, and defeat—and because they are so very adaptable to so many times, to so many people. One person would add a verse; another would change a melody a bit. This is what we call the “folk process,” borrowing to fit the time, the person, the incident.”
― Judy Collins

“When we sing, we can do anything—change the world, bring peace, be our best selves at last. When we sing, our hearts can lift and fly, over the troubled waters and over the years.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“Leonard (Cohen) never broke my heart, but his songs have, every time I sing or hear one of them. As Leonard says, “There is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“I think of the great songs that have carried me along, songs I have sung with you, and for you, all over the world—songs that have carried all of us in rough seas as well as tranquil times, songs that have healed our hearts and kept us going. After all these years, I still believe that music can change the world, and as long as there is music, the dreams will never die.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“I didn’t know it was the booze, always the booze, that brought on the darkness.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“friend of mine says that every time I judge myself harshly, I draw a drop of blood from my heart. So easy does it!”
― Judy Collins, Cravings: How I Conquered Food

“we floated like water lilies on a pond, dreaming of a billion suns”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“In an interview after Just Roll Tape was released, Stephen (Stills) said: “There are three things men can do with women: love them, suffer for them, or turn them into literature. I’ve had my share of success and failure at all three.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“I have found that people want and need to explore this subject in their own lives, that the discussion brings needed relief—to all of us. For we all, being human, have some suicide story in our past or our future.”
― Judy Collins, Sanity and Grace

“I have always had a soft spot for Canadian writers. There is something expansive and yet intimate about their songs, broad as the northwestern plains and as comfortable as having a cup of coffee out on a pinewood porch with a friend. From Ed McCurdy to Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen, from Joni Mitchell to Ian and Sylvia Tyson, hearing their songs is hearing the truth. And, as the man says, “when you’ve heard the truth, the rest is just cheap whiskey.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“For songs are the heart of our memory and they let us live the search for meaning in our lives again and again.”
― Judy Collins

“Robert Patterson. One day in New York in 1974 I got a call from Robert and his wife, Sybille, asking me to come to the Plaza Hotel for drinks and dinner. When I got there, they explained that Duke (Ellington) was terribly sick and that he was going to call in a few minutes to talk to Robert about canceling his upcoming tour in the United Kingdom. We began our dinner, and the call came. Then Robert passed the phone to me. I remember standing near the long velvet curtains by the window, looking out at the lights in Central Park twinkling through the trees. Duke’s voice was weak, but he spoke to me so kindly, and asked me about my upcoming record, about my touring. How did I like working in Europe? Did I have family? Wasn’t I glad I was a musician so I could lead this kind of life doing what I loved and making people happy? The next week Duke died, never having left the hospital.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music

“I did not drink because of my problems. I had problems because I drank. It would take me twenty-three years to figure that out.”
― Judy Collins, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music