298 Quotes by Elvis Costello

The words that are being spoken are serious, whether you take them at face value or listen to them at all, ... I'm not a preacher, I'm a singer. I can sing about serious things, but I don't think I have to put on a pious face to do it.

Don't start me talking, I could talk all night. My mind goes sleepwalking while I'm putting the world right.

It would be a surprise if people thought I would be playing a lot of rock 'n' roll.

I wish you luck with a capital F.

The songs will tell a story that I have imagined existing between the lines of Andersen's biography and some of his most famous tales, ... They speak of a misfit's love for an unattainable woman and a struggle between a huckster and someone who composes music in secret.

I've been asked to sing and that's what I do. People come (to this event) for all the right reasons.

I'd be very suspicious of anybody that seems to have to move to the next level of expression. I distrust that: now I'm writing a book, now I'm being an actor. It should be a natural thing. I think it's a natural thing for you to act. But I think that people that feel that, because they've written one maybe quite beautiful love song that equips them to play Romeo, is probably misguided.

I knew I was in trouble, but I thought I was in hell.

I've always thought of myself as a ballad singer who could sing rock 'n' roll, not the other way around,