Billy joel

It's really hard to make a living as a musician. It's almost impossible.

I don't know why people thought I was retiring.

I was drawn to boxing because I got beat up as a kid. I was the kid with the piano books in a New York neighbourhood.

If you tell kids they can't have something, that's what they want.

I have been both praised and criticized. The criticism stung, but the praise sometimes bothered me even more. To have received such praise and honors has always been puzzling to me.

More than art, more than literature, music is universally accessible.

I'm a history nut.

I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. What I do, in my opinion, is by no means extraordinary.

For whatever reason, not all people are born with the particular gift of being able to express ourselves through music. And, believe me, it is a gift.

When I was a young musician, the only option available to pursue secondary education in music was to attend a classical conservatory.