Mark Knopfler Quotations

I don't like definitions, but if there is a definition of freedom, it would be when you have control over your reality to transform it, to change it, rather than having it imposed upon you. You can't really ask for more than.

The music just tends to be a vehicle for that poetry.

My idea of heaven is a place where the Tyne meets the Delta, where folk music meets the blues.

I just want to be able to play and make people feel good with what I do. When you're thinking that way, anything can happen. And, usually, what happens is good.

Each song has its own secret that's different from another song, and each has its own life. Sometimes it has to be teased out, whereas other times it might come fast. There are no laws about songwriting or producing. It depends on what you're doing, not just who you're doing.

Every guitar I own gets used and has its purpose.

What I always try to do is to respond to the song; I've always rebelled against theory.

I was into playing American music, especially the blues.

I'm also getting an Ovation Legend, because I like them so much.

I even played bass for a while. Besides playing electric guitar, I'd also get asked to play some acoustic stuff. But, since I didn't have an acoustic guitar at the time, I used to borrow one from a friend so I could play folk joints.

There happened to be guitar classes at the college, and there was a guitar teacher there with whom I used to play. In addition, I also would go out into country schools and teach little kids basic guitar and singing a few times a week.

After a while, though, the group just wasn't a good vehicle for the songs I'd written.

I love Gibsons, and Nationals, too. There's something magical about them.

I'm not a collector, however, and I have no desire to own 50 or 60 guitars.

We used to play in a theater club in London called The King's Head. When the theater let nut, around 10:00 P.M., we'd be ready to go and really get it on for about an hour or so.

While I was into many different types of music, and played with many different local groups, I really didn't have a band to call my own until Dire Straits was formed in 1977.

While listening, to things like western swing, for instance, I'd work something out in my head, then play it on my National; not the same song, but one that captured the feeling of the original tune.

I finally got a job teaching English in a college, which I was delighted to have because it proved to be a real steadying influence.

As soon as you hear her taking the line, you see the character. She's not just a girl singing anymore; she's much more representative of something female. I think that's a depth that comes from her massive experience and ability.

Emmy brings such a wealth of experience that it's like a director having the finest actress for a film. What is on the page is given a real living dimension and a character who you can see.

Sometimes you're the window; Sometimes you're the bug.

Everybody has their own ideas of Shangri-La ... I tried to teach myself to enjoy the present, enjoy the now,

Well, I was born in Scotland and spent the first six years of my life there. Then I went to Newcastle-On-Tyne in northeast England, close to Scotland.

My playing is fairly straightforward, really, and everything's pretty much standard no frills or special effects.

Last time I was sober, man I felt bad, Worst hangover that I ever had. It took six hamburgers, Scotch all night, Nicotine for breakfast just to put me right.

There's so many different worlds...

I used to go to the school folk club with my songs when I was only 13 or so and say "this is a traditional folk song" and sing it with a bad Irish accent to disguise the real source.

I bad a piano long before I bad a guitar, and the practice I got just playing those three chords in a basic 12-bar blues song was very important.

Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry. You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die". There's a place for us, you know the movie song. When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

Then came the churches, then came the schools, then came the lawyers, then came the rules.

I shoulda learned to play the guitar.

...the music you make is shaped by what you play it on ... if you feel that you're not getting enough out of a song, change the instrument - go from an acoustic to an electric or vice versa, or try an open tuning ... do something to shake it up...

A Strat was a thing of wonder .. when I was 14 or 15, the Shadows were a big influence, and they had the first Strats that came to England. I like to play all kinds of guitars, but I wasn't getting the sound I really wanted until I got a Stratocaster

I don't really think of Dire Straits as a sound, you know. It. just depends on the song, and the stuff we're doing is so varied.

When you point your finger 'cause your plan fell through You got three more fingers pointing back at you!

Sometimes you gotta be an s.o.b., you wanna make a dream reality

I left for the same reasons everyone leaves jobs that are no longer fulfilling their hopes and aspirations. I didn't see myself spending the rest of my life being a strummer for someone else's dreams. Whatever the opposite of regret is best describes how I've always felt about that decision - it opened me up to a million creative opportunities I needed to experience away from the bullshit and distorting mirrors that fame engenders.

Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug.

There's so many different worlds, so many different suns. And we have just one world, but we live in different ones.

As far as being a 'player's player,' you've only got to go to Nashville or Argentina and you can forget about it. The world is full of amazing guitar players, and you know it, and I know it...it's a humbling experience...

And another thing: Stay responsive to any environment that comes along, and try to reflect what you feel in a wide variety of styles and songs.