Creativity Quote by Paul Simon

Paul Simon’s humility here isn’t the false modesty of a trophy-shelf genius pretending he got lucky. It’s a working musician’s unease with canonization, a refusal to let the culture freeze his catalog into a few museum-approved masterpieces. He name-checks “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “The Boxer” like they’re solid jobs well done, then undercuts the whole premise with a quiet, almost stubborn verdict: no “great songs.” The move is classic Simon - technically precise, emotionally reserved, and psychologically revealing.

The subtext is about authorship and credit. “Artie sang it beautifully” is generous on the surface, but it also reminds you that Simon’s most universally anointed song is inseparable from Art Garfunkel’s voice. Simon, the writer and arranger, is pointing to performance as the thing that turns craft into cultural myth. It’s also a subtle hedge against the idea that greatness is singular and owned. In a duo defined by the tension between brains and beauty, he’s nudging the listener: the song isn’t the whole story.

Context matters: Simon came up in an era when “greatness” meant standards, not streams - songs that outlived you. By saying he hasn’t written any, he’s not denying accomplishment; he’s keeping himself in motion. It’s an artist refusing to be embalmed by praise, insisting the next song has to earn the adjective again.