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Jon Foreman

Jon Foreman Quotes

Singer

Jon Foreman, born on October 22, 1976, is a talented singer known for his unique musical style and heartfelt voice. He has won the admiration of many fans with his music.

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All Song Thinking World Ifs Way Want Feels Writing Mean Pain

Famous Jon Foreman Quotes

“Life is short, I wanna live it well.”

Life Life Is Short Switchfoot Jon Foreman Live It Well

Author:Jon Foreman

“Love alone is worth the fight”

Author:Jon Foreman

“Stars looking at our planet, watching entropy and pain and maybe startin' to wonder how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane. I've been thinkin' 'bout the meaning of resistance of a world beyond our own and suddenly the infinite and penitent began to look like home.”

World Looks Home Pain Stars Wonder Our Lives Planets Infinite Chaos Resistance Sane Our Planet Entropy

Author:Jon Foreman

“If you're leaving your family behind, you better believe in what you're singing.”

Ifs Believe Behinds Singing Leaving Our Family Behind You

Author:Jon Foreman

“C.S. Lewis says that fiction is able to sneak past the watchful dragons of religion. It becomes more powerful to speak in poetry. The song goes straight to the heart while the numbers and the math of it will never be able to reach that.”

Heart Able Past Song Speak Powerful Numbers Fiction Math Dragons Sneak

Author:Jon Foreman

“Sometimes, the best songs are the ones you write without any pen and paper or audio recording device or guitar in your hands. Because there's nothing between you and the melody; it's just a great lyric.”

Writing Sometimes Hands Song Paper Guitar Devices Melody Pens Audio Great Lyric Audio Recording

Author:Jon Foreman

“I like to write on airplanes... that forced meditation time when you have nothing else to do, so your mind is allowed to go to places it wouldn't otherwise go.”

Writing Mind Meditation Airplane

Author:Jon Foreman

“There are a lot of similarities between music and surfing. There's a rhythm to both of them and with sound waves and ocean waves, you see patterns, plus the breathing is all part of it.”

Sound Ocean Wave Patterns Rhythm Breathing Plus Surfing Similarity Ocean Wave Sound Waves

Author:Jon Foreman

“Usually for me, the melodic structures come out in the water and the lyrical ideas could come from a book I'm reading.”

Book Ideas Reading Water Structure Lyrical

Author:Jon Foreman

“Surfing and music were incredible outlets for me when I was a kid. And there are some really tricky times when you're growing up and it's easy to make a wrong decision, even with a good family and community around you. Surfing and music kept me out of trouble.”

Kids Easy Community Decision Growing Up Growing Trouble Incredibles Surfing Outlets Tricky Wrong Decision Good Family

Author:Jon Foreman

“I try to surf everyday or at least go for a walk on the beach if the waves are flat. The more I travel, the more I appreciate where I live and the ocean.”

Ifs Trying Walks Ocean Appreciate Everyday Wave Beach Flats Surf

Author:Jon Foreman

“I look for places where there's no one out on the water. I'd rather surf a wave to myself than fight a crowd.”

Looks Fighting Water Wave Crowds Surf

Author:Jon Foreman

“Music has always been a location for me to run to, whether it's through someone else's song or my own. I can observe my own planet from this foreign land and things make sense within the telescopic lens of song.”

I Can Running Song My Own Land Planets Make Sense Location Lenses Foreign Lands

Author:Jon Foreman

“I think surfing and music are both places of release and self expression where there are no rules, and you can find a different form of freedom that you can't anywhere else.”

Thinking Different Self Form Expression Release Surfing Self Expression

Author:Jon Foreman

“For me, even if I'm not a fan of the band in general or maybe it's not the style of music I want to put on for my daughter and me when we're waking up in the morning, there's always something that I can learn from it. And I think those are the things that are surprising.”

Ifs Thinking Want I Can Morning Fans Style Band Daughter Wake Up My Daughter Waking Surprising Waking Up In The Morning

Author:Jon Foreman

“As far as when I'm writing a song, I think I'm writing first and foremost for myself.”

Thinking Writing Firsts Song

Author:Jon Foreman

“There is a deeper portion of our being that we rarely allow others to see. Call it a soul maybe, this is the place that holds the most value. All else can drift but this. When this dies our body has no meaning.”

Soul Body Values Dies Deeper Portions

Author:Jon Foreman

“Life tears at us and scars us as children so we adopt facades and masks to hide this part of us, to keep this sacred part of ourselves from the pain.”

Children Pain Tears Sacred Mask Scar Facade

Author:Jon Foreman

“Music is admitted under the skin without permission.”

Music Is Skins Permission

Author:Jon Foreman

“Pain is a common emotion in many of my songs mainly because I often don't know other ways to express it adequately. In my songs I wrestle with the things that I don't understand.”

Knows Way Pain Song Common Emotion

Author:Jon Foreman

“I often use music as a handle for very emotionally explosive substances: love, sex, God, fear, doubt, politics, the economics of the soul - these are daunting thoughts in the back of my mind that I rarely visit without the safety gloves of song.”

Mind Soul Use Song Sex Doubt Economics Safety Handle Substance Gloves Of My Mind Explosives

Author:Jon Foreman

“Most of the time a spark of beauty or truth will start a fire of a song but fires rarely produce goodness on their own ... you need to control them and put them to work.”

Needs Song Fire Produce Goodness Sparks

Author:Jon Foreman

“Experience is all I have. I equate song-writing with archeology. Every day you dig. You dig into different places within yourself - even finding places that you've rarely been. And buried within the soil is song.”

Writing Different Song Findings Soil Buried Different Place Archeology

Author:Jon Foreman

“I am often tempted to think of success in terms that are defined by others: records sold, popularity gained, album reviews, etc. These are impossible demands, however, and they can never be satisfied. Letting finite others define our worth is a horrible way to live. Only the Infinite Other [God] has the authority to do this.”

Thinking Way Term Records Impossible Demand Authority Infinite Albums Satisfied Horrible Defined Etc Reviews Popularity Finite Tempted Way To Live

Author:Jon Foreman

“Celebrity is a currency with an exchange rate almost as strong as anonymity.”

Strong Rate Currency Anonymity

Author:Jon Foreman

“I want to be a compassionate soul, finding worth and beauty in the worlds around me and within me, attempting to sing a transcendent tune with my temporal position in this life.”

World Want Soul Position Findings This Life Tunes Compassionate Attempting Transcendent

Author:Jon Foreman

“I've always been fascinated with the strong emotional ties that music can have. A song can bring you back to a place or a season of life like no other art form can.”

Art Form Song Strong Emotional Seasons Ties Fascinated Seasons Of Life Strong Emotional

Author:Jon Foreman

“There are certain songs that I like to listen to at certain times of the day. For example, first thing in the morning I love listening to "Flamenco Sketches" off of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.”

Firsts Kind Certain Song Morning Example Listening Blue Miles Flamenco Kind Of Blue

Author:Jon Foreman

“I began thinking about the idea of a 24 hour concert. What if you tied songs to certain hours of the day - creating a 24 hour world of lyric and melody. So that was the inspiration for this project.”

Ifs Thinking World Ideas Inspiration Certain Song Hours Projects Creating What If Melody Concerts Tied

Author:Jon Foreman

“For me songs are born out of the gray space, the things I don't fully understand, the things that I can't put in my pocket.”

I Can Song Born Space Pockets Gray

Author:Jon Foreman

“For me, I want to create a environment for the songs to live in. So one song by itself only tells a piece of the story, but in the context of the album, more of the colors are revealed.”

Want Stories Song Environment Pieces Color Albums

Author:Jon Foreman

“Music will always be judged by our subjective ears.”

Ears Judged Subjective

Author:Jon Foreman

“I simply want the music to to find its way to open-minded people.”

People Way Want Open Minded

Author:Jon Foreman

“When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. But when life hands you hurricanes, you go surfing.”

Hands Surfing Hurricanes Lemons Lemonade Make Lemonade

Author:Jon Foreman

“If you truly love someone, you're going to be pure because true love comes from God, and God tells us to remain pure. That's good enough for me.”

Ifs Enough Pure Good Enough Love Someone If You Truly Love Someone

Author:Jon Foreman

“The biggest thing that I've learned is to run the marathon, not the sprint. By that I mean, don't let the little problems that you face in the hour in daily life cast a shadow over the larger joys that you have, over the course of the years.”

Years Mean Littles Problem Running Faces Joy Courses Hours Shadow Casts I've Learned Daily Life Marathon Sprint

Author:Jon Foreman

“What you do with your life is ascribing more to what you invest your time in. If you spend a lot of time on your phone, you're ascribing more worship to that. Anything can become, by that definition, some form of idol or deity or ultimate worth in your life.”

Ifs Form Life Is Worship Ultimate Phones Definitions Idols Deities

Author:Jon Foreman

“Music is mere tuning a song with words; to some degree you have a beautiful endeavor of cosigning God's blank checks and you're actually co-creating. You're certainly not the creator with the capital C, but you're embarking on an endeavor, you're using the building blocks that have been given to you by the author of time and space.”

Has Beens Beautiful Song Given Space Building Degrees Creating Music Is Mere Creator Checks Block Endeavor Blank Time And Space Tuning Building Blocks Embarking Blank Check

Author:Jon Foreman

“I'm always looking to find order within the chaos. And sometimes when my life gets fairly chaotic, I'll take a walk outside. I think about the order and the perfection of galaxies of planets in orbit and traveling around space and thinking how chaotic the wars and divorces and riots on our planet must look from outer space.”

Thinking Looks War Sometimes Order Space Walks Planets Perfection Chaos Divorce Galaxy Our Planet Riot Chaotic Orbit Outer Space

Author:Jon Foreman

“The life, when we're aware of beauty, is kind of a bittersweet thing, it's a transient reminder of eternal beauty, which someday we will be face to face with.”

Kind Faces Eternal Someday Reminders Face To Face Transient Bittersweet Eternal Beauty

Author:Jon Foreman

“I'm always thinking about songs, I'm thinking of life maybe a little bit more lyrically than a computer programmer or someone like that.”

Thinking Littles Song Bits Computer Little Bit Programmers Always Thinking Computer Programmers

Author:Jon Foreman

“For me, the good songs are the ones that come really naturally. There are certain songs that you rework and rewrite and the craft becomes very evident, but a lot of times those aren't my favorite songs. The favorite songs are the ones that I can't even hear my own voice in.”

I Can Certain Song Voice My Own My Favorite Crafts Evident Favorite Song Rework

Author:Jon Foreman

“It's really hard to fit a complex idea into a 3-minute pop song. And when you're dealing with issues that you're passionate about, usually they have various levels. And within a poem, you can get around the issue of space, and in a song the same way, by simply leaving holes and alluding to what you're talking about.”

Way Ideas Hard Song Space Levels Talking Issues Minutes Fit Complexes Leaving Passionate Various Pops Holes Pop Song

Author:Jon Foreman

“The song can be a little bit more of the mystery and leave the whole thing open ended. But there's something really gratifying about saying exactly what you mean.”

Mean Littles Whole Song Bits Mystery Little Bit

Author:Jon Foreman

“I love a good pop song. I have no problem with the concept of doing that sort of thing. For me, it's usually what I'm inspired by, what I'm thinking about.”

Thinking Problem Song Concepts Inspired Pops No Problem Pop Song

Author:Jon Foreman

“When I'm happy, when I'm enjoying life, I'm home, I'm surfing, I'm spending time with my wife, my friends and I'm not thinking about the pain. And then the moment I encounter something that feels difficult, I feel like that's when, for me, I turn to writing and thinking and maybe a song comes from that.”

Thinking Feels Writing Moments Home Pain Song Turns Enjoy Difficult Wife My Friends My Wife Spending Encounters Enjoy Life Surfing Spending Time Writing And Thinking

Author:Jon Foreman

“I have horrible acting ability. I can only be one thing and that's it. So for better, for worse, that's all I've got to offer is me. I've got nothing else.”

I Can Ability Acting One Thing Offers Horrible

Author:Jon Foreman

“It was a beautiful letdown, the day I knew, that all the riches this world had to offer me, will never do.”

World Beautiful This World Offers Riches Letdowns

Author:Jon Foreman

“Paste just might be my favorite music magazine. They have shed light on many incredible, under-appreciated folks over the years, helping me find new tunes to accompany me through life. We were honored to give a song in return.”

Giving Years Helping Light Might Song Return Incredibles My Favorite Folks Magazines Tunes Shed Honored Appreciated Accompany Favorite Music

Author:Jon Foreman

“I try to write songs just for the song itself. I don't try and think about where it's going to end up, that way you're writing for the good of the song.”

Thinking Way Writing Trying Ends Song

Author:Jon Foreman

About the Author

Born: October 22, 1976
Known for: Singer
Quotes: 145

Related Topics

Song Thinking World Ifs Way Want Feels Writing Mean Pain

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People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

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