You have the United States, and you have Mexico, and then you have this Mexican-American thing which is this third culture, which I like to call Aztlan. – Linda Ronstadt
I didn’t know why I couldn’t sing – all I knew was that it was muscular or mechanical. Then, when I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I was finally given the reason. I now understand that no one can sing with Parkinson’s disease. No matter how hard you try. And in my case, I can’t sing a note. – Linda Ronstadt
I can’t really walk well. The muscles don’t get the electronic signals from my brain, not that there’s anything wrong with the muscles themselves. It’s just my brain. – Linda Ronstadt
It’s a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I’d rather not know. – Linda Ronstadt
The thing you have to be prepared for is that other people don’t always dream your dream. – Linda Ronstadt
I always say if music can’t make you cry, you’re a hopeless case. I don’t cry very much myself, but it’s my job to make you cry. – Linda Ronstadt
Everywhere you go, there’s a soundtrack. You can’t really quite hear it. It’s just a little out of the range of hearing. – Linda Ronstadt
Art is for healing ourselves, and everybody needs their own personal art to heal up their problems. – Linda Ronstadt
Sometimes I was frivolous. Did you have some frivolous years? I had to live mine out in public. – Linda Ronstadt
The only reason to be with somebody is that they make you a better person and you make them a better person. – Linda Ronstadt
I grew up in a big sky country. Then I lived in Manhattan, where you can only see the sky between buildings, and then I went into a building where you couldn’t see the sky at all. I didn’t like that so much. – Linda Ronstadt
There should not be a question of legal or illegal immigration. People came and immigrated to this country from the time of the Indians. No one’s illegal. They should just be able to come. – Linda Ronstadt
I wanted to sing when I was little. That’s what I liked doing. It didn’t occur to me that you became famous or anything like that. – Linda Ronstadt
I used to feel kind of impatient with people who couldn’t do things fast or couldn’t remember stuff. – Linda Ronstadt
Having children makes you see the world in a completely different way. When you’re responsible for those little lives, you can’t slough it off or forget about it until later. – Linda Ronstadt
In the Troubadour days, it was all those songwriters that I hung around with all the time, so I could get songs and find out what was going on. So we all knew each other, and we just carried each other’s word around. – Linda Ronstadt
I listen mostly to live music, and mostly my musical experience was playing music with other people. – Linda Ronstadt
Ninety-eight percent of the singing I did was private singing – it was in the shower, at the dishwasher, driving my car, singing with the radio, whatever. I can’t do any of that now. I wish I could. I don’t miss performing, particularly, but I miss singing. – Linda Ronstadt
I got a couple of different contacts from publishing companies saying they’d be interested in a book about my work: not a kiss-and-tell book, which I specifically put in the contract. Just a book about my work and what I did. – Linda Ronstadt
I admire people’s marriages, and I think it’s a wonderful thing to have, but I don’t think it’s the only way to live. I think there are many ways to live and many ways to establish intimate support in your life that can be from family or friends or great roommates that you like. – Linda Ronstadt
Parkinson’s is very hard to diagnose. So when I finally went to a neurologist, and he said, ‘Oh, you have Parkinson’s disease,’ I was completely shocked. – Linda Ronstadt
I know my own father’s business was very dependent on the goodwill and business and trade from people in northern Mexico. We knew their families and went to their weddings and baptisms and balls and picnics, and we had a great time with them. – Linda Ronstadt
I always thought competition was for horse races and it never belonged in art. I never felt that competitive with other girl singers, really. – Linda Ronstadt
I had a lot of chances to do things that other people don’t ever get, and I have to be content with that. I have to look around for some other way to make myself useful. – Linda Ronstadt
In the United States, we spend millions of dollars on sports because it promotes teamwork, discipline, and the experience of learning to make great progress in small increments. Learning to play music does all this and more. – Linda Ronstadt
Songwriting wasn’t my gift. I think you have to cultivate a gift; you have to practice and develop craft around your gift so that you can execute it in more convenient, efficient ways. – Linda Ronstadt
