John Lydon Quotes

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'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa.

I find Lady Gaga hilarious. And I kind of like her. My heart's warmed to her.

Only the fakes survive.

I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song.

I never thought of Green Day as a punk band. Just bubblegum, really.

Punk is like looking at a mirror. I already have a mirror so I don't need the Offspring to remind me how gorgeous I am.

If you were to look back at me as a school kid you'd see a very quiet little church mouse kind of character.

If anyone asks for your autograph they're showing you respect and give it back to them.

Occasionally, a re-enactment is a fine thing. I love Civil War re-enactments.

Rules are important, but they're temporary and they're always supposed to be changed.

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.

If you really want the truth of anything, don't use Wikipedia.

I've always despised the hippies.

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'm not going to pontificate and tell you to execute your government at dawn, but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

It's quite sad to see how many people I've known over that years that just die off, you know like wilted flowers. Well, there's something to be said for flowers in the dustbin.

The idea of hearing, 'Great gig, man,' one more time just turns my stomach over.

I don't believe in false memories, like I don't believe in false songs.

One of the most beautiful things about Britain, apart from the NHS and the free education, is the British Army.

My words are my bullets.

I keep falling off the edge of the stage because I can't see it. I can't see my wrinkles in the mirror either, though.

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.

There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.

I love consumerism, TV culture, shopping malls. There's nothing I'd ever buy, but I like being there. It's wacky.

It's nice to be irritated. It's a very joyous thing.

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.

I have the integrity of a teenager and that's never going to be stolen from me. I'm the original virgin.

Let's face it, I ain't ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything.

Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they're trying to relay to you.

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.

My reputation is a media creation.

I love being alive so much. When you come out of comas in your childhood, every moment awake is a joyous occasion.

I've never said I'm a communist.

I do use my music to entertain myself, as indeed I use other people's music.

I'm not able to tell you what the best song is yet, because there's more to come. I feel that in me. I can still feel the burning energy and the desire to create and create and create.

Anyone who's parading under a $100,00-plus video is not free from corporate. That's just the MTV advertising agency. I find them all to be just a bit of a sham.

Dummy Dum Dum was my nickname for years at school. I was the strange one of the family, the one who couldn't remember his name.

I don't release records to be anything but enjoyable.

People don't like other poor people, and rather than blame the people that make you all poor, you blame each other.

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.

Do not stand in the middle, go to the right or to the left.

I'm aware of my songs. I'm aware of them because they're about true emotions, true feelings, things that matter.

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'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.

The day I run out of ideas is the day I stop making records.

Love is two minutes fifty-two seconds of squishing noises. It shows your mind isn't clicking right.

Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That's living!

If I'm left to my own devices, I will be tempted to make the most unlistenable music possible.