Yip Harburg Quotes

Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.

They who meet on an April night are forever lost in love, if there's moonlight all about and there's no moon above.

My whole family has been having trouble with immigrants ever since we came to this country.

This we learn from Watergate that almost any creep'll be glad to help the Government overthrow the people.

Music gives 'wings' to words.

When the melody touches your heart emotionally and the words hit your brain intellectually, more than likely you'll find you'll have an excellent song to sing.

Oh, innocent victims of Cupid, remember this terse little verse: To let a fool kiss you is stupid. To let a kiss fool you is worse.

No matter how high or great the throne, What sits on it is the same as your own.

I am a rebel by birth... I contest anything that is unjust, that causes suffering in humanity. My feelings about that are so strong, I don't think I could live with myself if I weren't honest.

My heart wants roots My mind wants wings. I cannot bear Their bickerings.

All the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today.

I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours, who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace which are well worth singing about.

The greatest romance in the life of a lyricist is when the right word meets the right note; often, however, a Park Avenue phrase elopes with a Bleecker Street chord, resulting in a shotgun wedding and a quickie divorce.

Songs are the pulse of a nation's heart. A fever chart of its health.

The world would be a safer place, If someone had a plan, Before exploring outer space, To find the inner man.

If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why oh why can't I?

Did God who gave us flowers and trees, Also provide the allergies?

The Lord made Adam, the Lord made Eve, he made 'em both a little bit naive.

Ira [Gershwin] was the shyest, most diffident boy we had ever known. In a class of lower east side rapscallions, his soft-spoken gentleness and low-keyed personality made him a lovable incongruity. He spoke in murmurs, hiding behind a pair of steel-rimmed glasses..Ira had a kid brother who wore high stiff collars, shirts with cuffs and went out with girls.

A Russian child asked his mother : "does God know we don't believe in Him?"

No matter how much I prove and prod, I cannot quite believe in God; But oh, I hope to God that He, Unswervingly believes in me.

When I'm not near the girl I love, I love the girl I'm near.

Follow the yellow brick road.

Lives of great men all remind us greatness takes no easy way.

Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?