Billy Corgan Quotes

I believe that if the Tribune company ever tries to close down Wrigley Field that you will have a protest from every corner of the globe.

If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice?

The ideology of the Smashing Pumpkins was ultimately more valuable than the music of the Smashing Pumpkins. That's what critics can't put their finger on.

I never wanted to leave the Smashing Pumpkins. That was never the plan.

I think a spiritual journey is not so much a journey of discovery. It's a journey of recovery. It's a journey of uncovering your own inner nature. It's already there.

Great music completely obliterates any conceptions of genre.

I was part of a generation that changed the world - and it was taken over by poseurs.

Saturn Return is just the return of your planets to their original position.

Where is this great love for rock and roll that existed for 50 or 60 years?

Compliments and criticism are all ultimately based on some form of projection.

My pat line about the Cubs and payroll is that the amount of merchandise the Cubs would sell off a world series championship would more than cover for a big payroll.

Like any good tree that one would hope to grow, we must set our roots deep into the ground so that what is real will prosper in the Light of Love.

I had concussions as a kid playing football and basketball, and know what it feels like and to have someone say 'Just rub some dirt on it, and get back in there.'

We've turned into a whining society.

To me, music was about being accepted and escaping from this crummy existence.

Once a pumpkin, Always a pumpkin.

Thinking about the future and thinking about the past is really only a way of ignoring the present.

Why is it that all non-conformists look the same?

I'm a Pisces, and Pisces have this weird inability to be completely spontaneous. We're too conscious of our actions. I've always been way too sensible for my own good.

Been there, done that, seen it, heard it, pissed on it.

Heavy metal is a universal energy -- it's the sound of a volcano. It's rock, it's earth shattering. Somewhere in our primal being we understand.

I'm sort of like a lame, single guy in a red sports car.

Don't judge yourself by someone else's standards. You will always lose

Your basic person wants to talk about material culture, internet culture. I think about God, cats, nature.

Most great records really start with the drums.

People think I take some sort of masochistic pleasure out of putting out music that's gonna be unpopular.

We need to get back to a level of social responsibility that we haven't seen for a long time.

I'm from a lower middle class background; all my family were immigrants.

The deeper I get into my life as a musician, I'm discovering that it becomes less and less about other people, and more about what I want to do. And that's a good place to be.

If I have resistance to something, it means there's something wrong. The resistance to me is a sign of fear.

Sometimes people just like being around each other, and good things come out of that.

Indie world won't have me, and mainstream world treats me like an alien, but here I am still floating between these two worlds.

The reason I don't play any of the old songs is because I really honor my old band, and I think that those songs are best served within the context of that band.

The funny thing about me that most people never really understand is that, at heart, I'm really a jock.

Even if you don't believe in God, exploring fully the idea of a God or Gods should pose no threat to you.

For a 6-foot-3 guy with no hair and a whiny voice, I've done all right.

In my case I don't mind playing a character that irritates people or makes people question my sanity.

Do I belong in the conversation about the best artists in the world? My answer is yes, I do.

You will never see the four original Pumpkins on stage ever again, unless it's a Hall of Fame thing. But you would never see a tour. There's so much damage, there's no way.

The Pumpkins love rock-and-roll, we absolutely love it, but we also think it's a flatulent, ego-serving kiddie playground. You can have your cake and eat it too.

Well, all rock and roll is based in artifice.

I'll come in with a string of riffs and direct the musical ideas. But you still need a band and their input to make the ideas come alive. You can't underestimate band chemistry.

I lay a lot of blame at the feet of Dusty Baker for not being more strict about fundamentals, which I think would give the team a stronger day-to-day identity.

I'm attacking the pomposity that says this is more valuable than that. I'm sick of that.

Wrestling is one of the last truly rebellious American things left.

I feel like I'm always fighting not to repeat myself.

Jesus teaches us to forgive and I've got to trust him on that one.

I walked away from going to church when I was 8. I didn't set foot in another church until I was 28.

In our lives in a lot of ways it's all about fake. You've got people wanting things for fake reasons.

Time is never time at all. You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth. And our lives are forever changed. We will never be the same. The more you change, the less you feel.