Meat isn't murder, it's delicious.
You'd have to be daft as a brush to say you didn't like Pink Floyd.
Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.
Here's how I understand music. If you can play the same bunch of noise twice, it's music. To go beyond that is supercilious and pontificating.
For me all governments are my enemies and I've never made any bones about it any other way other than directly, and I don't fly the left flag or the right flag, me, I'm common sense.
Britain's an island; it's always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration - it makes it a better place.
I have one major problem with the Internet: It's full of liars.
I'm very open about my politics. I don't believe in any political party at all, none of them.
I got into music by happenchance and luck and wearing a t-shirt with "I hate Pink Floyd" on it. The irony has never failed to amuse me ever since because I didn't hate Pink Floyd at all! And yet you have an entire range of people out there believing that the best thing you can do in life is to hate Pink Floyd. Come on, It's because it's the world I live in!
I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song.
Let's escape the past. The past didn't work. All we have is the future, and I'm the one who wrote "no future for you!" Don't let the irony be lost.
Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.
It's no good being nice and young and naive. There's no good in that at all. You've got to do it all yourself, and you've gotta learn quick. And you can't look for sympathy either.
If dolphins are so intelligent, how come they ain't got Walkmans?
I'm aware of my songs. I'm aware of them because they're about true emotions, true feelings, things that matter.
Just because people think politically different to you doesn't mean they're inhuman.
I have a sensible set of values that tell me to never lie.
I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song. It may be easier to put out a fake jazz album, as Sting does from time to time.
When you talk like an asshole and look like an asshole, you're an asshole
If the Royal Family was going to assassinate someone, they would have gotten rid of me a long time ago.
My reputation is a media creation.
I'm just permanently agitated by everything and everyone.
I don't tolerate liars. When somebody lies to me, that's really, like, just unbearable.
For me people are people, without meaning to sound corny, it's a plain natural fact, music is a universal language and I've always known that and observed that and treated music with great respect accordingly.
I don't have any expensive habits. I'm not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I'd love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.
I went to visit Alcatraz years ago when I was on tour with the Pistols, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place. I genuinely, really, thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning there. I just liked the quietness and stillness of what is basically a cruel prison complex. I still found some kind of joy in that. That's how I am.
I've never done anything deliberately; I just speak my mind, and that is what I consistently do and will always do in any way shape or form that I can.
When I write, my brain moves faster than my hands so I'm always trying to picture things.
People should never allow themselves to be dictated to by media.
Isn't it odd I've made some friends in the Republican Party, but that's in spite of the fact that I cannot agree with not any one single thing they stand for. That's the irony in the joy of being a human being in that we don't resent each other for our different thought processes, but anything that offers the attitude to me of "I'm going to stop you because that offends my religion", then I'm going to stop them. So I have one more note against that ideology, and the idea of a real estate agent running the universe is just not acceptable.
If you are pissing people off, you know you are doing something right
Michael Jackson plays the wounded puppy very well. 'I must be the loneliest man in the world'. Well, you're not a man. And the loneliness is self inflicted, so sod off you pathetic puerile pimp. I wonder what color his willy is.
As a young concert-going person, I was never enamoured with celebrities who would walk out to feature in certain songs and then walk off.
If my leg falls off, I'll get a prosthetic. There'd be no deep sadness about. I'd just get on with it! It's called life, and I love life. You have to be positive, and you have to crack on no matter what.
I have the integrity of a teenager and that's never going to be stolen from me. I'm the original virgin.
You can't arrest me, I'm a rockstar.
I love discordancy. It makes people ill at ease and wakes up a part of their brain that's normally asleep.
Obama's dense as a doorbell; not much going on up there - it's a wooden top.
Freedom isn't to do what you want at somebody else's expense.
I somehow hope - naïve though I may be, utopian, possibly - that my music has some kind of calming effect on the universe, that it's somehow beneficial to people.
I don't think there's any such thing as rock n' roll anymore - it's an amalgamation of business interests.
Analog, electronic, whatever it happens to be, I simply love and adore literally every aspect of making music.
Judge not others unless you're prepared to be judged!
There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.
The only notes that matter come in a wad
I like lime-flavoured yoghurt. The end. There is no religion. It’s a man-made fabrication. Once you understand that, you’ll be a happier individual. Atheism is as pointless as satanism.
As a human being, I'm work in process.
I'm not this callous clown walking around laughing at life all the time. I've had some serious, serious problems in my life. But I've come out with a smile.
I never wore a studded leather jacket, y'know. Ne-va! If I had had the money I wouldn't have spent it on shit like that.
Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
I've done no harm to no one. In fact, I think I've improved the world.
You should never, ever be understood completely. That's like the kiss of death, isn't it? It's a full stop. I don't ever think you should put full stops on thoughts. They change.
I have values. But morals are Christian. There's no religion here. Values. Don't hurt when you don't need to, but don't let anybody step over that line - it's an invisible line, but it's respect for somebody's space.
If anyone asks for your autograph they're showing you respect and give it back to them.
I've created several musical trends, really. That's not because I'm so far out and fabulous. It's because most bands have no ideas of their own. They're so desperate they'll grab at any old straw.
For me, the anarchy movement is hilarious. It's all under .org, which is of course government sponsored websites, and then they're all wearing corporate clothing from the Dr.Martin's to the back sacks and the cell phones, they're all flying around on corporate jets and using corporate highways. Very anarchistic!
I don't like walking in the street and seeing 30,000 copies of myself.
Oscar Wilde turned the world upside down and was able to laugh at it, and hopefully by the time I'm 120 and worn out, that's what I will achieve. I love being alive so much.
I've always despised the hippies.
What goes on in the world and who's defining what is right or wrong in anything? Is there a place in any of our existence where we need judgment any longer? But we should have empathy towards each other and break away from those categories that politics and religion keep throwing back at us.
We need wealthy dogs off the seats of power. They're taking us back to feudalism and I really don't want that. But I'm very far from being a socialist.
I cannot comprehend fundamentalism. It's fundamentally wrong.
I have one major problem with the internet: It's full of liars. There doesn't seem to be any way to answer to people lying about you.
Do not stand in the middle, go to the right or to the left.
I find Lady Gaga hilarious. And I kind of like her. My heart's warmed to her.
The only good political movement I've seen lately was Occupy Wall Street. They had no leaders, which was genius. But unfortunately it always ends up with some hippy playing a flute.
Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.
I wanted to wear the most impenetrable suit of armour ever known to mankind. 'Hello, Mr. Rotten...' You can't say anything about me. You can't put me down in any way shape or form - I'm rotten to the core... you know, what's left for you? Pleasantries? I suppose the worst insult you could sling my way is 'Oh, he's really nice, him.'
I'm not here for your amusement. You're here for mine.
Rules are important, but they're temporary and they're always supposed to be changed.
You'll find that empty vessels make the most sound.
I always knew the Sixties wasn't a revolution. It really was just a bunch of university students with wealthy parents having fun.
I showed what I can do with butter, right? Eighty-five percent increase in sales. I'm very proud of them Country Life ads. They were funny and clever and classy like the Toblerone ads I grew up with.
Move to Italy. I mean it: they know about living in debt; they don't care. I stayed out there for five months while I was making a film called 'Order Of Death,' and they've really got it sussed. Nice cars. Sharp suits. Great food. Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That's living!
Being born into the Royal Family is like being born into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something to be taken lightly.
It's nice to be irritated. It's a very joyous thing.
Turn the other cheek too often and you get a razor through it.
Only the fakes survive.
You never know how things will work out. After all the bad reasons in the world, some good came out.
I love Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart because they're bringing irony back into American humor, which is a delicious treat. The entire Colbert persona of being extreme right-wing when he's not at all is highly amusing. He does it so well, but sometimes a little too well. My wife is convinced he's completely that way.
I hate the technological rip-offs that pass for music formats these days, and go back to vinyl to hear a good record because the sound is always so much fuller. I don't even like listening to music in the car.
Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they're treated.
For me, I'll always stand up for the disenfranchised, and I'm going to make a big point of that. I'm not a protest singer as such, you know? After the endurance course of the early 70s and 60s, I don't want to become one of them twats. But you got to learn to speak the truth.
Any kind of history you read is basically the winning side telling you the others were bad.
I hate death; it takes people away from you. You're left feeling rudderless.
U2 - that's a band that never should have existed. There's no life experience in any of their songs.
The idea of hearing, 'Great gig, man,' one more time just turns my stomach over.
I could take on England, but I couldn't take on one heroin user.
If you really want the truth of anything, don't use Wikipedia.
I've always strived to maintain a very healthy, friendly working situation, and lo and behold, it only took forty years, so the next sixty are looking bright. You're dealing with human beings on the cutting edge, and there's bound to be tension. You have to be make room for that, and you can't be too unreasonable, because that's everybody else's role.
I think national pride leads to nothing but wars and hate.
The real color of my hair is mouse. I always want to be ginger, which I was when I was born, or blond, because I live in L.A., and I want to look like I go surfing without any physical effort.
I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa.
People don't like other poor people, and rather than blame the people that make you all poor, you blame each other.
Punk became a circus didn't it? Everybody got it wrong. The message was supposed to be: Don't follow us, do what you want!
Some of us are born big-minded with small penises. Others have big penises and small-minded.
It seems like the more I punish myself, the better it's been. What it is, I'm relentless and I never give up. I never take the easy way out.
You need the past as a guideline. The history of music is a good basis, but to escape that stuff, that tortuous rulebook, you have to learn it first. It's kind of like religion - once you've written the Bible, that's it, move on.
I love consumerism, TV culture, shopping malls. There's nothing I'd ever buy, but I like being there. It's wacky.
If you have something to say then you want someone to pay attention or at least to have the opportunity for them to tell you to shut up and go away.
I'm not going to pontificate and tell you to execute your government at dawn, but it wouldn't be a bad idea.
Rock n' roll is over, don't you get it? It lasted 25 years and now gets wiped out. The Sex Pistols were the bullet in the brain. They were the last rock and roll band.
My way of thinking as I approach any human being on this planet is, 'What are you doing now?' That's what interests me. I don't come at anybody with a whole bunch of assumptions.
Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where I wanted to be.
It's a repressive society where you can't be horrible, I'm not horrible, they made me horrible, I'm just honest.
I'm a great self-doubter. I constantly need to prove myself to myself. I've never run to heroin or alcohol to hide that. I always have to deal with it. Stage fright is always going to be there. I have nightmares about bad gigs.
I have no time for lies and fantasy, and neither should you. Enjoy or die.
I'm not limited to categories or genres. Anything human beings come up with fascinates me. If a three-legged idiot like me can dance to it, then that's all well and fine.
I mean, the genuine roots of culture is folk music.
I like crazy people, especially those who don't see the risk.
I don't need a Rolls-Royce, I don't need a house in the country, I don't need to live in the south of France. I'm quite happy as I am.
I'm not great at dealing with death, I have to say. I find death very hard: my mum, my dad, Sid Vicious. I'm not a monster; I feel it and it scares me. One death at a time, please, is all my heart will bear.
Situationism is a ludicrous proposition. It's ill-formed and it's perfectly French. That Gallic disposition towards common sense. L'Anarchie!
This is a very difficult thing to remain independent and persistent.
If you give me the chance, I'll destroy America for you.
I don't believe in anarchy, because it will ultimately amount to the power of the bully, with weapons. Gandhi is my life's inspiration: passive resistance. I don't want to live in the Thunderdome with Mad Max.
I'm not one for like soul-searching, sour fizzy moments. I come from the school of hard knocks, "f**king get on with it", that's it.
I always feel like a bit of an outsider myself, but as a working class lad, the system was always against me. The British system itself and then of course all the illnesses that were challenging to me.
Over the years, during television interviews, whenever the host or the reviewer or whoever gets cynical and nasty with me, I will behave accordingly. I will defend myself.
Me, as a human, I never want to take away another human being's choices or lifestyles or anything.
The record companies fell apart - quite deservedly. Their corrupting, all-binding contract nonsense had to stop.
It's a loser's emblem (swastika), because the Nazis lost the war. It's ridiculous to suggest we are involved with fascists. All my best friends are black, gay, Irish or criminals.
[Replying to the question of the presenter: "where did the name "Sex Pistols" come from, who thought this name up?"] Some animal. I can't remember. It doesn't matter. It's history.
When you come from desperate poverty, and that's exactly what I come from, you know that nonsenses are not to be tolerated. I'm not sure who gains from chaos, but I know it's not the poor folks in the council flats. The politics of vindictiveness is never, ever anything like a solution.
Heaven is on this earth. There are no angels on the clouds with twanging harps... That's just another man's fantasy.
