After a whirlwind year on her record-breaking Eras Tour, being named Time’s Person of the Year and releasing two Taylor’s Version re-records, Taylor Swift today marks another milestone.
Born on December 13, 1989 Swift is celebrating her 34th birthday with the release of her Eras Tour Concert Film on streaming platforms across the world. And while fans will be thrilled that they can now enjoy songs not seen in the cinema release, we thought it would be fitting to revisit Swift’s own thoughts.
Here are 13 of Taylor Swift’s best quotes on everything from love and song writing to failure and growing up.
1. “Trash takes itself out every single time.”
“Nothing is permanent, so I’m very careful to be grateful every second that I get to be doing this at this level, because I’ve had it taken away from me before. There is one thing I’ve learned: My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art. But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies, trash takes itself out every single time.” - Time, 2023
2. “Have adventures.”
“Over the years, I’ve learned I don’t have the time or bandwidth to get pressed about things that don’t matter. Yes, if I go out to dinner, there’s going to be a whole chaotic situation outside the restaurant. But I still want to go to dinner with my friends. Life is short. Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years—I’ll never get that time back. I’m more trusting now than I was six years ago.” - Time, 2023
3. “You lose your edge if you find a way to protect yourself from everything…”
“I think, as a songwriter you lose your edge if you find a way to protect yourself from everything they're going to say about you. You lose touch with what made you vulnerable enough to connect with people in your songwriting. And that's not something I wanna do. So it's all about walking a tightrope between not being so fragile and breakable that they can level you with one blow and being raw enough to feel it and write about it when you feel it.” - Esquire, 2014
4. “Writing songs is an art…”
“I wanted to say to people, You realise writing songs is an art and a craft and not, like, an easy thing to do? Or to do well? People would act like it was a weapon I was using. Like a cheap dirty trick. Be careful, bro, she’ll write a song about you. Don’t stand near her. First of all, that’s not how it works. Second of all, find me a time when they say that about a male artist: Be careful, girl, he’ll use his experience with you to get—God forbid—inspiration to make art.” - Vogue, 2019