Top 30 Brian Wilson Quotes

I earned my famous name.

First of all, I want people to understand that I’m here to create for them. To create music for people so they’ll know that I’m a source of love. And they can depend on my name.

I’d earned over a million dollars by the time I was old enough to vote.

Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.

Pop music has been exhausted. The innocence has been exhausted. I think we’ve lost the ability to be blown away by music.

I can write songs, I’ve had songs in movies, but I can’t compose film scores, you know?

I’m not a genius. I’m just a hard-working guy.

I meditate and I also think about meditation. Which is funny. I think about Maharishi, about just the idea of meditating. It gives me something.

My mother used to tell me about vibrations. I didn’t really understand too much of what that meant when I was just a boy. To think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death.

Probably not much of a song left in me, you know, if any, because I’ve written so many, some 250 songs or 300 or whatever it is.

You want to know my real pleasure? Food. I love chocolate. I can’t get enough chocolate. I can’t help it. But my biggest pleasure of all is exercise. I really get off on exercise.

There’s no outdoing The Beatles.

I think I need the demons in order to write, but the demons have gone. It bothers me a lot. I’ve tried and tried, but I just can’t seem to find a melody.

If you’re going to write a song, try to get together with a collaborator because it’s better to write with collaborators.

Politics goes in one ear and out the other. I don’t even know the president’s name for sure. That’s how stupid I am.

The keyboard is my whole life. My life is centered around either sitting at my keyboard or driving my car. Those are the two most important things, more than anything else. Being at my keyboard, it’s the happiest time for me.

Every now and then I hear voices in my head, but not very clear. I can’t understand what they are saying. It’s a mental illness. I have been diagnosed as a manic depressive.

I like the piano – I’m always about 15 feet away from a piano.

I wanted to emulate Bob Flanagan, the high voice in the ‘Four Freshmen.’ I wanted to sing high like he did.

You know what? I’m not always in a positive, happy place. But I’m able to concentrate enough to come up with a really good song.

I still believe that something is right only when it feels right.

I listen to oldies but goodies stations, ’60s and ’70s music.

I think in terms of emotions. And feelings. So sometimes what I say may not always be clear. But creatively, there’s a lot to be said for that way of thinking.

It’s like when a guy gets a divorce from his wife. You part ways. That’s what I did with The Beach Boys.

When I can’t write, it depresses me.

My skills are musical, not lyrical.

Don’t get married until you’re certain that you’re marrying the right girl. How did I know my wife was the one? I’d seen her for a couple of months. I liked her. She was a very creative person and she had a very good grip on politics and business.

I would listen to Little Richard and Fats Domino and Chuck Berry, and I would listen to how they played their riffs, and after I taught myself that, I taught myself to play my own kind of stuff.

I consider myself to be a crusader of love. I try to spread love around the world as best I can because I know I have a handle on love.

I play piano all the time. I’m always at my piano, playing music.