Quote Of The Day By Art Garfunkel: 'Life Is A Surprise. I Don't Know What Happens Next Month. I Don't Know...'

There are plenty of famous duos throughout music history, but few are as eternally linked as folk rock legends Simon and Garfunkel. Art Garfunkel was born on November 5, 1941, in Queens, New York — the same borough where he would meet Paul Simon in elementary school.

Inspired by two-part harmony acts like the Everly Brothers as well as R&B and doo-wop, they broke into the Billboard Top 50 in 1957 with their single "Hey Schoolgirl." After a hiatus that lasted into the early '60s, the boys came back together to record their debut album as Simon and Garfunkel, "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.," establishing their role in the emergent folk rock genre. Simon was the pair's primary songwriter, but Garfunkel's emotional delivery and soaring vocal runs made both a force to be reckoned with. Their hit song "Ms. Robinson," commissioned for the 1967 film "The Graduate," would earn them two Grammy awards — but they had plenty of other iconic tracks throughout the decade that solidified them as the ultimate duo.

However, even the strongest of teams hide some dysfunction — which was evidently the case when the pair split in 1970. Garfunkel would go on to embark on an acting career alongside some solo music pursuits, with his vocal talents on full display on tracks from his 1973 album "Angel Clare." Garfunkel followed his dreams all the way to the top, and that's why his is today's quote of the day.

"Life is a surprise. I don't know what happens next month. I don't know what happens after we die."

In a 2026 interview with The Guardian, Art Garfunkel was preparing to tour again at the age of 84. He described his rise to fame alongside Paul Simon, as well as some of his lesser-known adventures in the years following the duo's split. This included a brief stint as a geometry teacher in Connecticut, singing to Appalachian cows, and walking across the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

This particular quote was in reference to his most recent reunion with Simon in 2025, when the pair had dinner, shared tearful hugs, and made plans to reconnect. They had encountered each other throughout the decades, touring together as recently as 2010. However, when it came to answering questions about whether or not they had plans to tour again as a duo, Garfunkel preferred to keep it ambiguous. He didn't entirely rule it out, but it seems that the "All I Know" singer is used to following his whims and staying open to whatever opportunities life may present.

Art Garfunkel doesn't claim to have all the answers, and the future is never set in stone. Things as seemingly predictable as the next three weeks could change and surprise you, and the same could be said for whatever happens once we've run out of time completely. 

His involvement in the 1970 war comedy "Catch-22" was a surprise, with Garfunkel recounting in his 2026 interview with The Guardian how director Mike Nichols had personally driven the script to Garfunkel's house. Garfunkel explained how "I'd never acted and was so nervous, but Mike was maybe the most interesting man I ever met and made me feel good ..." This chance gig landed him another role in one of Nichols' films, 1971's "Carnal Knowledge." However, not all surprises are this positive. Garfunkel was on the set of 1979's "Bad Timing" when he got the call that Laurie Bird, his partner, had died in his New York apartment. He also experienced vocal cord paralysis in 2010 in the middle of the Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour, working to regain his ability to sing again in 2014.

Sometimes terrible things happen that we can't see will lead us to a happy ending. Sometimes great things have to end before a new chapter in our lives can begin. In the end, however, there's no way to know when they'll happen, or what those things may be. All we can know is that life is a journey, and it's defined by how we handle the best and the worst that it has to offer us.

• "I'm a thinker, a book reader, a walker, but mostly I'm a singer. I'm always very nervous, behind the curtain. Then I walk out and hear the applause and I flip from fear to confidence right there."

• "Whatever you do, you gotta do it well. Why not try to be the best in the world, just for the fun of it?"

• "When I was five I realized I had a singing voice. It was pretty. It delighted me. So it's a great gift in my throat."

• "That's because we live our lives by falling into experiences. Things happen to us. Something you do takes hold of you and then you do a lot of it."

• "Artists bounce from project to project, and I live with the fun of what's next. If anything, I burn stronger at this age."