Bruce Cockburn Quotes

A sane person doesn’t think war is a good idea.

Little round planet in a big universe, sometimes it looks blessed, sometimes it looks cursed. Depends what you look at obviously, but even more it depends on the way that you see.

Everything that makes a society run is broken in Iraq. The only real structure is the people’s own sense of themselves as Iraqis, which was very strong. They’re a proud people, and they trace their historic roots way, way back.

If I try to understand what it means to be a Christian, I look at the two instructions that were given in the Bible that are paramount, and those are to love God with all your heart and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s it.

I like to think that if it hadn’t gone as well as it has, if I wasn’t able to make a living off of playing music, I would still be playing the music. But, of course, I wouldn’t likely have had the opportunity to travel, and a lot of the places have inspired songs.

The trouble with normal is it only gets worse.

I always write the lyrics first. There are one or two exceptions over the years, but that’s pretty much the way it’s been. The process of applying music to words is a bit like scoring a film. You’ve got imagery.

I’m not a pacifist. I feel that there are situations where fighting is inescapable, but we don’t go looking for those things.

Sometimes I catch myself doing something that I’ve already done. The more I’ve done, the more that’s likely to happen. Then I just throw it away. I wait until I’ve got the right way of getting a thing done, which means my songwriting proceeds at a very slow pace. But it’s the only way I can really work.

Male female slave or free; peaceful or disorderly; maybe you and he will not agree; but you need him to show you new ways to see.

The second half of the ’60s really was a kind of learning period, in terms of writing, for me.

Water of life is gonna flow again/changed from the blood of heroes and knaves/Word mercy’s gonna have a new meaning/ when we are judged by the children of our slaves.