Eric Clapton Quotes

My driving philosophy about making music is that you can reduce it all down to one note if that note is played with the right kind of sincerity.

Music survives everything, and like God, it is always present.

It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance.

My selective memory of what drinking was like told me that standing at the bar in a pub, on a summer's evening with a long, tall glass of lager and lime was heaven, and I chose not to remember the nights on which I had sat with a bottle of vodka, a gram of coke and a shotgun, contemplating suicide.

All along this path I tread, my heart betrays my weary head, with nothing but my love to save, from the cradle to the grave.

For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.

Would you know my name, if I saw you in Heaven?

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.

But the guitar, when you think about it, is the most versatile, really.

I mean you can pick it up and take it with you wherever you go.

In my lowest moments, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink any more if I was dead.

I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there.

I admire Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather, but they might blow me away quite easily if we were to jam together.

I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him.

I'm an egomaniac with an inferiority complex.

Give me a guitar and I'll play; give me a stage and I'll perform; give me an auditorium and I'll fill it.

Oh yeah, I mean, it wasn't a very good guitar, most good guitars have got thrust rods in the necks that you can adjust or that'll keep them in shape, you know keep them straight. This one just, well it turned into a bow and arrow after a couple of months.

I did play a lot of fingerstyle when I first started playing.

I could never really find the right combination of flatpick or fingerpick, so playing fingerstyle is really the easiest way - though it's quite strenuous on the fingertips.

Although they can do it all the time, you know, they're far better than me, on a musically, on a theoretical music level. You know, they're out of my league.

I feel wonderful because I see the love light in your eyes, and the wonder of it all is you just don't realize how much I love you.

Having lovers and friends is all good and fine But I don't like yours and you don't like mine.

Music will always find its way to us, with or without business, politics, religion, or any other bullshit attached.

When I saw Jimi Hendrix I knew immediately that this guy was the real thing .

.. and when he played it was like a rough sketch of what he was going to become ... this guy was our generation, and he wasn't in a suit .. he played a Howlin' Wolf song 'Killing Floor', and then we (The Cream) had to carry on the set. It was pretty hard to follow.

[Unplugged] was also the cheapest to produce and required the least amount of preparation and work. But if you want to know what it actually cost me, go to Ripley and visit the grave of my son.

Up until I became a father, it was all about self-obsession.

But then I learned exactly what it's all about: the delight of being a servant.

I've always wanted the sound of Muddy Waters' early records - only louder

For me, the most trustworthy vehicle for spirituality had always proven to be music.

When I look for what I'm going to listen to I go backwards.

I'm always going the other way you see. Most people are trying to figure out 'how do I get in the fast lane going that way?'. I'm going in the other direction. I wanna find the oldest thing to do.

They found our hero in the gutter with a diamond ring and a gun.

I mean, it didn't matter to me that there were people, it didn't matter that I was shy Just the sound was so captivating that it helped me to get rid of those inhibitions.

Very much like that, and very much a loner, do you know and I didn't fit really into sport or all kind of group activities as a kid, I couldn't find a niche. And music was not really part of the kind of village curriculum it would, you know.

One summer I remember, I got exposed to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and Buddy Holly was a very very big, made a very big impression on me. Because of a lot of things, you know, the way he looked and his charisma.

Like a fool, I fell in love with you, Turned my whole world upside down

This moment in time, on this tour, you know, I'm discovering a lot of new things. And to be 45 and doing that, it's a mixture of pleasure and pain, I can assure you.

At first the music almost repelled me, it was so intense, and this man made no attempt to sugarcoat what he was trying to say, or play. It was hard-core, more than anything I had ever heard. After a few listenings I realized that, on some level, I had found the master, and that following this man's example would be my life's work.

Leave bands, go back to obscurity if I choose to, without a great sense of loss of security because it's all been based on the fact that I did it on my own or was doing, enjoying doing it on my own in the first place.

Yeah, it is, because it's a real discovery of your inner resources, you know.

That's what my character is all about and what my playing is all about. But to get up there and just go inside and draw out something that makes you feel good first and foremost.

I couldn't believe how good Jimi Hendrix was It was a really difficult thing for me to deal with, but I just had to surrender and say, 'This is fantastic.'

And I don't like having my picture taken.

I'm almost like an old African in that sense. I think it steals a bit of the soul.

It was stumbling on to really the bible of the blues, you know, and a very powerful drug to be introduced to us and I absorbed it totally, and it changed my complete outlook on music.

A British pressing with a compilation of the best stuff really, I mean actually not only that but, these were all kind of semi hits for the people on it in America.

They looked great, you know the drawings of the guys playing looked great and bits of string around their necks. So it didn't seem to be that difficult a thing to do, or that inaccessible.

I just managed to convince my grandmother that it was a worth while that was something to do, you know, and when I did finally get the guitar, it didn't seem that difficult to me, to be able to make a good noise out of it.

I thought, 'My God, this is like Buddy Guy on acid.'

I saw you walking with your other man today.

If I catch you one more time, I'm gonna blow you both away.

It sounds strange for me to be saying this, but I've come around to the idea that sex really is for procreation.

Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees.

It's been very important throughout my career that I've met all the guys I've copied, because at each stage they've said, Don't play like me, play like you.

I have no problem with religion, and I grew up with a strong curiosity about spiritual matters, but my searching took me away from church and community worship to the internal journey. Before my recovery began, I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter.

Plant your love and let it grow.

Would you know my name If I saw you in heaven Will it be the same If I saw you in heaven I must be strong, and carry on Cause I know I don't belong Here in heaven Would you hold my hand If I saw you in heaven Would you help me stand If I saw you in heaven I'll find my way, through night and day Cause I know I just can't stay Here in heaven