Jeff Buckley Quotes

“Dylan and Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith, all dark, all romantic. When I say “romantic,” I mean a sensibility that sees everything, and has to express everything, and still doesn’t know what the fuck it is, it hurts that bad. It just madly tries to speak whatever it feels, and that can mean vast things. That sort of mentality can turn a sun-kissed orange into a flaming meteorite, and make it sound like that in a song.”
― Jeff Buckley

“There is no good singing, there is only present and absent.”
― Jeff Buckley

“Turn your head away from the screen, my friend. It will tell you nothing more.”
― Jeff Buckley

“When all of this music sounds like you know what you want to say, then it will have been of all worth, ever. You will be something complete unto yourself, present and unique.”
― Jeff Buckley

“Love heals all wounds and not just time alone.”
― Jeff Buckley

“The beauty of God is in the wind, in the movement of the ocean, it is in the eyes of a woman gazing at her lover, pouring the deep red wine of love from her eyes like two crystal cups. There is a God who dances and who loves and who longs to sing of love...And I mean that God is music; all inclusive, benevolent and life-affirming, unashamed human emotion.”
― Jeff Buckley, Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice

“Be seriously involved with growing, with your own development, and never fear.”
― Jeff Buckley, Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice

“There is no threat to you in the paper, or in the pen, there's no threat in your creation, they welcome you.”
― Jeff Buckley, Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice

“I'll rise like an ember in your name.”
― Jeff Buckley

“Escape is no longer called for or even especially healthy. Escape from life is death.”
― Jeff Buckley, Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice

“I say it's about time to say that I've graduated from doing impressions of things better lived than acted out, OK?”
― Jeff Buckley, Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice

“You know how much is inside you and you have ideas of how to get it out into the open. Tap the source and let it flow and don't waste a drop by taking it for granted.”
― Jeff Buckley, Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice

“Though most cultural observers hadn't noticed it yet, everything was now in place for "Hallelujah" to sweep through the pop landscape. It was a song that had multiple strong, emotional connections with millions of listeners. Its mood was both fixed and malleable, universal and specific. It was familiar enough to resonate, obscure enough to remain cool. Though its most celebrated performer was gone forever, its mysterious creator had come back to the spotlight just in time.
After 2001, whether it signified an individual's solitude (human or monster or otherwise) or a population in mourning, "Hallelujah"—now far removed from Leonard Cohen's initial," rather joyous" intent—was established as the definitive representation of sadness for a new generation.”
― Alan Light, The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"