Email Quotes from Famous People – The Funny, the Insightful, and the Surreal

“Did you get my email?” This is probably a question you’ve asked or been asked at least a few times in your life. It may be one of the most repeated email quotes of all time.

We’re email geeks here at ZeroBounce. We talk about it a lot and we always say that email is great, but we also wondered what the famous think about email.

Since I’m a believer in the power of email, I decided to present some of my favorite celebrity email quotes. Everyone from business people, lots of singer-songwriters, authors and even news anchors have said a little something about email here.

Wally Amos: the greatest email quote

I trust Wally Amos. He’s the namesake and innovator behind Famous Amos and other cookie brands. Could there be a better email quote than one from a man who brings the joy of cookies to the masses?  

“Email is the greatest thing,” he said for Star Bulletin.

But, that’s not to say everyone is a fan. Some people don’t even have an email address. Do you know anyone like that?

Take musical legend Bob Seger, singer of “Old Time Rock and Roll.” It turns out he prefers old-time messages too.

“I don’t have and have never had an email address. I’m old school.”

Willie Nelson: If he’s on the road again, send him an email

Icons. It can seem surreal to think about them checking their email. When he’s not playing Trigger, Willie Nelson may be hitting Reply.

“I text and email my friends and family a lot, but that’s about the extent of my high-tech-etude.”

Rikki, don’t lose that email

Donald Fagen, the co-founder of Steely Dan, considers email a necessary evil. It’s hard to tell if his email quote about the inbox being soul-sucking is how he really feels or his trademark bitter humor. 

“I resisted email a long time. It’s destructive to the human soul.”

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Emails in paradise from Jimmy Buffett

Singer-songwriter, best-selling author and businessman Jimmy Buffett is the subject of this next quote.

I was interviewing Dylan Orenstein, his Chief Investment Officer. He said his boss Jimmy elevates emailing to an art form. He had this to say about the man from Margaritaville.

“This is something that I don’t think is known to the public about Jimmy Buffett. He is a masterful email writer. His emails are not, ‘Hey, how are we looking on this?’ They are real notes like you would find in a diary. It’s really a craft of art. 

I said to Jimmy one time, ‘we should do a coffee table book where we take all of the emails that you have written over the last 15 years. We’ll redact the names and we’ll overlay old pictures. We’ll make it a beautiful, bound, coffee table book and call it No Reply At All. That’s it.”

Bestseller. His emails are actually fantastic. 

Related: See what people’s biggest email pet peeves are!

They say fame is an illusion. I host an interview show and have corresponded with quite a number of musicians and actors who have confessed to me that their manager, booker or publicist was really an alias and a made-up email address. 

“Fight Song” singer-songwriter Rachel Platten confessed about her “agent’s” email address to Teen Vogue magazine. You have to figure it probably happens a lot. 

“I played cover gigs and traveled the country in my mom’s old car, and my drummer and I set up a fake email and sent it out to agents. We pretended to be our own agent.”

What’s your email, girl?

Comedian Nikki Glaser of Not Safe fame says giving the object of your affection your email address is safer than giving out your digits. She offered this advice in Esquire to those looking for love.

“Make eye contact with cute strangers. Give guys your email. Email is safer than a number, or at least it feels that way.”

But not all comedians would give the same tip. SNL alum Tracey Morgan would probably suggest you do your flirting face to face, like he did in Men’s Health.

“People live too much of their lives on email or the Internet or text messages these days. We’re losing all of our communication skills.”

Related: Here are 15 fun facts about email

Billionaires love email, too

Everywhere you look, there’s Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO is not just great at creating publicity and making mega-bucks. He’s also a self-proclaimed email master.

“I do love email. Wherever possible I try to communicate asynchronously. I’m really good at email.”

Another billionaire who sings the praises of email is Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban. He clearly prefers emails to scheduling a meeting! Can I get an amen?

“Whatever you can say in a meeting, you can put in an email. If I have questions, I’ll tell you via email.”

Emailing down the bones

I’m a huge fan of the prolific author and Zen practitioner Natalie Goldberg. Her book Writing Down the Bones is one of the best books on writing, anywhere.

I couldn’t resist asking her about email in an interview I did with her.

Here’s what she told me:

“Well, I think that if there wasn’t email, I’d have at least two more books out. I spend a lot of time on email. Sometimes I love it and I write too much in emails. I should learn just one-sentence answers, but sometimes I write these long things and really respond and it takes up a lot of time.”

Writers can labor over every word. Irish novelist and screenwriter Sally Rooney has a lot in common with Goldberg. How many of you write and rewrite an email, but still try to give it that feeling of spontaneity?

“You can spend hours editing an email but send it as if you wrote it in a minute.”

Related: Celebrate with ZeroBounce: 51 Things to Do on Email Day

Miss Manners weighs in

Columnist and authority on all things etiquette, Judith Martin doesn’t think you should write many private or sensitive things in an email. Given the constant news of emails going public, she may have a point.

“For email, the old postcard rule applies. Nobody else is supposed to read your postcards, but you’d be a fool if you wrote anything private on one.”

Left-wing filmmaker and activist Michael Moore apparently concurs. 

“I assume everything I’m saying in an email or saying on the telephone is being looked at.”

News anchors are skeptical

Morning Joe’s Willie Geist thinks email is just a trend. Or we hope he was being sarcastic!

“I’m pretty sure people are going to start writing letters again once the email fad passes.”

We all know email is growing, and that includes Willie Geist.

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So, which of these email quotes most resonates with you?

Also, I’m sure there are more great quotes about email out there. How do you feel about a volume 2?