Richard Thompson Quotes

Every day I'll wear your memory like a favorite shirt upon my back

Will there be any bartenders up there in Heaven, will the pubs never close?

I'm glad there are a lot of guitar players pursuing technique as diligently as they possibly can, because it leaves this whole other area open to people like me.

To stand up on a stage alone with an acoustic guitar requires bravery bordering on heroism. Bordering on insanity.

What I wanted to hear didn't exist, so it was necessary for me to go out and create it.

When you stand up acoustic in front of an audience, you really are a man without any clothes on. And that can be fun - it depends how much of an exhibitionist you are, I suppose. I quite enjoy it.

All audiences should be slightly off balance.

The best thing you've got going for you is individuality.

I have to remind myself not to set boundaries.

Amplifying acoustic instruments more than a little is really cheating, and everything becomes a compromise.

The thing I do, really, is a communication with audiences more than any achievement through records.

It's fun to sing sad songs. And it's fun to listen to sad songs. Enjoyable. Satisfying. Something.

People want to hear about the extremes of human nature. They want things that are larger than their own lives, and more romantic, and not necessarily of their own experiences.

I probably wrote three-quarters of the songs without an instrument in my hands.

I like the idea of playing in unison with yourself.

You want the audience to be uncomfortable.

I'm always making a conscious effort to be viable and accessible.

There is in fact a controversy over Darwin's theory. Clearly both theories have religious implications. But this is not about God.

I try to make songs visual and tactile to kind of put you into the action.

But music can save your life sometimes. It probably saved me from working in a bank or something. That's a kind of salvation right there.

I try to look for the good in everybody, regardless of the way they're labeled.

I just like to entertain myself by sitting down and writing songs.

To see both sides of a quarrel, is to judge without hate or alarm

It's amazing what some people read into songs.

I want people to come to my music without prejudice. I want them to get the music first. And who I am isn't that important. If they like the songs to me that's a good thing.

They came in the thousands from the whole human race to pay their respects at his last resting place.

There are only three white blues singers -- Geoff Muldaur is at least two of them.

Well, first of all it's entertainment. That stops us becoming too pretentious or thinking we're great artists.

I'm sure every pattern has been covered, but it's nice to think you might dwell on some that other people don't.