Top 40 Sarah McLachlan Quotes

I’ve been a fan of old country music, like Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline. I think I’m drawn to it because of the sense of sadness and sort of loss that a lot of good old country music has.

Deadlines are meant to be broken. And I just keep breaking them.

I was trying to uphold what I thought feminism was as best I could by supporting women, by trying to create an opportunity to get women to get together, play music together and celebrate the fact that we are having great success making music on our own and together.

I was put out there as a spokesperson for the new feminist revolution. It was very difficult because I was either too feminist or not feminist enough, depending on who you spoke to.

The darker and the sadder the song, the happier it makes me feel. It’s just this, ah. I’m in the moment. I’m part of this beautiful world, and it’s fantastic, and I don’t really know how else to describe it.

We are in an age of technology where we sit in our little cubicles and we IM each other and Skype each other and never connect as human beings.

I’m really lucky that my record companies have been patient with me and leave me alone and give me the time to make it right in my mind.

When I sing, it’s just… comfort is a stupid word, but it is.

I don’t like bad feelings gnawing away at me.

We showed the industry that female artists could attract the same audiences as the big male stars.

Coming to terms with the fact that my marriage was a failure was devastating and very difficult. I blamed myself for a lot of things. It took me a very long time to get over it.

The first gig we ever played was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I’m from. I was in a band called the October Game, and we opened up for a Vancouver band.

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to go crazy. I don’t party like I used to.

When you’re making music or playing a song, I find the moments when there are no instruments being played even stronger than when they are being played. Because they add tension. It’s also an ego-less thing – a place where you have no ego – when you’re with a bunch of musicians who stop and listen instead.

It’s an amazing luxury to say I’m 31 years old and I’m gonna take a year off. That’s pretty amazing.

I don’t tend to question things that much. If it feels right, I go for it.

I go out on the road for much longer than I probably should and lose more of myself than I should.

I was a pretty insecure kid, didn’t have a lot of friends, and was picked on a lot, and music gave me confidence.

There’s no reason for anybody to jump out of bushes to take pictures of me. I’m not doing anything exciting.

I think often sadness is a great place to get songs from.

I’m not a media darling. I’m not on the cover of all these magazines. I just quietly do my thing.

With every record I put out, I got a bit more success, a bigger following in cities I would play in, and occasionally a bit of radio play.

I like the idea that we build up these walls or rules or laws to maintain our reality, and when they fall away, you’re left with a whole bunch of illusions.

I write music all the time. When I talk about having writer’s block, it’s more to do with lyrics than anything else.

I would love to make my music and be completely anonymous, but that doesn’t work. You can’t have success and be faceless.

The more we take the less we become, the fortune of one man means less for some.

We try to create this interesting appearance to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

I sort of feel like music saved my life when I was young. This is the one thing that I knew I was good at.

It’s a very romantic sentiment, but to think that you would die if you didn’t write, well, I would definitely choose to not write and live.

Music gave me a sense that I was worthwhile and that I had something of value to offer the world even though everybody was telling me that I didn’t.

I like the idea that we build up these walls or rules or laws to maintain our reality, and when they fall away, you’re left with a whole bunch of illusions. Smoke and mirrors.

They are very personal, emotional songs – people react to them very strongly.

I’ve learned to trust myself, to listen to truth, to not be afraid of it and to not try and hide it.

If I had to pick one song for me that sort of quintessentially summed me up, it would be ‘Angel.’ Without fail, I absolutely love singing it.

I have the ability, no matter what’s going on in my life, to find something – my cup is always half full.

For me, that’s one of the best validations as an artist. To have a stranger come up to you and say that something you’ve created and put out there in the world has had some sort of impact on other people’s lives.

Music is very nebulous, and you can conjure up a lot of moods with music. But lyrics – they’re a lot more tangible. They’re much more specific. And you want to say something meaningful and creative and artistic and that tells a story and that takes people someplace else.

I feel like I really tapped into a pretty honest emotional place for myself as a lyricist. There’s a broad spectrum of emotions.

On becoming a mother, I sort of feel like every kid is my kid. I really do get that sense in a much more profound way that we all are a global community and we all have to band to try and give the children of our this generation whatever tools we can to go out into this world and try and make it a better place.

There’s nothing particularly unique about my experiences except that they’re my experiences.