Joni Mitchell, born Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, and painter. Renowned for her distinctive voice, poetic lyrics, and innovative songwriting, Mitchell has left an indelible mark on the music industry. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with albums like “Blue,” “Court and Spark,” and “The Hissing of Summer Lawns,” which showcased her ability to blend folk, pop, jazz, and rock influences into a unique and compelling musical style. Mitchell’s songwriting delves into themes of love, longing, nature, and social issues with honesty and depth. Hits like “Both Sides, Now,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” and “A Case of You” have become enduring classics. Beyond her music, Mitchell’s influence extends to her visual artistry and activism. Her contributions have earned her numerous accolades, including multiple Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joni Mitchell’s legacy continues to inspire generations of musicians and fans alike.

Joni Mitchell Quotes

1. “We are stardust, we are golden and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”
― Joni Mitchell

2. “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
― Joni Mitchell

3. “We love our lovin’….but not like we love our freedom.”
― Joni Mitchell

4. “I don’t know if I’ve learned anything yet! I did learn how to have a happy home, but I consider myself fortunate in that regard because I could’ve rolled right by it. Everybody has a superficial side and a deep side, but this culture doesn’t place much value on depth — we don’t have shamans or soothsayers, and depth isn’t encouraged or understood. Surrounded by this shallow, glossy society we develop a shallow side, too, and we become attracted to fluff. That’s reflected in the fact that this culture sets up an addiction to romance based on insecurity — the uncertainty of whether or not you’re truly united with the object of your obsession is the rush people get hooked on. I’ve seen this pattern so much in myself and my friends and some people never get off that line.
But along with developing my superficial side, I always nurtured a deeper longing, so even when I was falling into the trap of that other kind of love, I was hip to what I was doing. I recently read an article in Esquire magazine called ‘The End of Sex,’ that said something that struck me as very true. It said: “If you want endless repetition, see a lot of different people. If you want infinite variety, stay with one.” What happens when you date is you run all your best moves and tell all your best stories — and in a way, that routine is a method for falling in love with yourself over and over.You can’t do that with a longtime mate because he knows all that old material. With a long relationship, things die then are rekindled, and that shared process of rebirth deepens the love. It’s hard work, though, and a lot of people run at the first sign of trouble. You’re with this person, and suddenly you look like an asshole to them or they look like an asshole to you — it’s unpleasant, but if you can get through it you get closer and you learn a way of loving that’s different from the neurotic love enshrined in movies. It’s warmer and has more padding to it.”
― Joni Mitchell

5. “All romantics meet the same fate some day.Drunk and cynical and boring someone in some dark cafe.”
― Joni Mitchell

6. “you dont know what you got till its gone”
― Joni Mitchell

7. “Love is touching souls.”
― Joni Mitchell

8. “Chase away the demons, and they will take the angels with them.”
― Joni Mitchell

9. “people will tell you were they have gone, they’ll tell you where to go, but until you get there for yourself you never really know.”
― Joni Mitchell

10. “So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way.”
― Joni Mitchell

11. “Will you take me as I am? Strung out on another man…California, I’m comin’ home.”
― Joni Mitchell

12. “It’s life’s illusions that I recall, I really don’t know life at all”
― Joni Mitchell

13. “Just before our love got lost you said
“I am as constant as a northern star”
And I said, constantly in the darkness,
Where’s that at?
If you want me I’ll be in the bar.”
― Joni Mitchell

14. “I could drink a case of you, darlin’…and I would still be on my feet, yes I would still be on my feet…”
― Joni Mitchell

15. “Oh you’re in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet”
― Joni Mitchell

16. “everything comes and goes; pleasure moves on too early and trouble leaves too slow”
― Joni Mitchell

17. “There are things to confess that enrich the world, and things that need not be said. ”
― Joni Mitchell

18. “We are stardust
Billion-year old carbon
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden”
― Joni Mitchell

19. “Daydreamin’ drugs the pain of living.”
― Joni Mitchell

20. “And the seasons they go ’round and ’round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game.”
― Joni Mitchell

21. “Fear is like the wilderland – Stepping stones or sinking sand ”
― Joni Mitchell

22. “Won’t you stay
We’ll put on the day
And we’ll talk in present tenses”
― Joni Mitchell

23. “If you’re smart or rich or lucky
Maybe you’ll beat the laws of man
But the inner laws of spirit
And the outer laws of nature
No man can”
― Joni Mitchell

24. “I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said
“Go to him, stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed”
― Joni Mitchell

25. “But you know it’s hard to tell
When you’re in the spell if it’s wrong or if it’s real
But you’re bound to lose
If you let the blues get you scared to feel”
― Joni Mitchell

26. “We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”
― Joni Mitchell

27. “You’ve got to shake your fists at lightning now, you’ve got to roar like forest fire
You’ve got to spread your light like blazes all across the sky
They’re going to aim the hoses on you, show ’em you won’t expire
Not till you burn up every passion, not even when you die
Come on now, you’ve got to try, if you’re feeling contempt, well then you tell it
If you’re tired of the silent night, Jesus, well then you yell it
Condemned to wires and hammers, strike every chord that you feel
That broken trees and elephant ivories conceal”
― Joni Mitchell

28. “There’s a man who’s been out sailing
In a decade full of dreams
And he takes her to a schooner
And he treats her like a queen
Bearing beads from California
With their amber stones and green
He has called her from the harbor
He has kissed her with his freedom
He has heard her off to starboard
In the breaking and the breathing
Of the water weeds
While she was busy being free”
― Joni Mitchell

29. “I never loved a man as far as I could pitch my shoe.”
― Joni Mitchell

30. “I see music as fluid architecture.”
― Joni Mitchell

31. “I’m an individual, and an individual can’t follow and doesn’t want to lead.”
― Joni Mitchell

32. “There’ll be icicles and birthday clothes And sometimes there’ll be sorrow.”
― Joni Mitchell

33. “Well something’s lost but something’s gained in living every day.”
― Joni Mitchell

34. “Whatever it was that I felt was the weak link in my previous project gave me inspiration for the next one.”
― Joni Mitchell

35. “Art is short for artificial…so the art of art is to be as real as you can within this artificial situation… In a way it’s a lie to get you to see the truth.”
― Joni Mitchell

36. “I have a tremendous joie de vivre… alternating with irritability of course.”
― Joni Mitchell

37. “It’s just that I suffer very eloquently”
― Joni Mitchell

38. “And the seasons they go’round and’round And the painted ponies go up and down We’re captive on the carousel of time We can’t return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game”
― Joni Mitchell

39. “You’ve got to shake your fists at lightning now. You’ve got to roar like forest fire.”
― Joni Mitchell

40. “I was only a folk singer for about two years…. By that time, it wasn’t really folk music anymore. It was some new American phenomenon. Later, they called it singer/songwriters. Or art songs, which I liked best. Some people get nervous about that word. Art. They think it’s a pretentious word from the giddyap. To me, … the word art has never lost its vitality.”
― Joni Mitchell

41. “I never saw a sky so green, never so blue”
― Joni Mitchell

42. “And the seasons they go round and round”
― Joni Mitchell

43. “We are stardust, we are golden And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”
― Joni Mitchell

44. “Sex sells everything and sex kills”
― Joni Mitchell

45. “shut me up and talk to me”
― Joni Mitchell

46. “Who you gonna get to do the dirty work When all the slaves are free?
― Joni Mitchell

47. “We are stardust.”
― Joni Mitchell

48. “If you’re smart or rich or lucky Maybe you’ll beat the laws of man But the inner laws of spirit And the outer laws of nature No man can No, no man can…”
― Joni Mitchell

49. “I’m a pretty good cook
Sitting on my groceries
Come up to my kitchen
I’ll show you my best recipe
I try and I try but I can’t save a cent
I’m up after midnight, cooking
Trying to make my rent
I’m rough but I’m pleasin’
I was raised on robbery”
― Joni Mitchell