I consider myself a sit-down comedian really, as much as anything else. I love comedy. Life is a cosmic joke.

Being big and famous doesn't get you more freedom, it gets you less.

I think that pop, and to some extent rock, are like sport and fashion industry in that they're about the exuberance of youth. That's the sort of subliminal ideology.

I've always liked pop music. There was a bit of a misunderstanding with the avant-garde rock scene, because I think I was sort of swimming the wrong way, really.

When I lost the use of my hi-hat and bass drum legs, I became basically a singer. I was a drummer who did a bit of singing, and then I became a singer who did a bit of percussion.

I find it hard to take rock groups very seriously or treat them with respect. There is something absurd about these gloomy young men getting together and banging away.

I don't know how many thoughts we have a second, but it's quite an amazing number, and just to pin down the appropriate sequence of those, all you really need is a pencil and a piece of paper.

I prefer the mystic clouds of nostalgia to the real thing, to be honest.

There's no field of music which doesn't have good ideas.

What keeps me going is a constant sense of disappointment with what I've already done.

In theory, I'd like to work in a group. But the group I'd like to work in, all the musicians in them are long since dead.

If you call that music real noise

It’s amazing how we can hurt others, especially those close to us . . .subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which wives belittle husbands and vice versa.

The batshit kind of love that makes no sense at all… and at the same time… all the sense in the world… That is us… You and me

Abuse and neglect negate love. Care and affirmation, the opposite of abuse and humiliation, are the foundation of love. No one can rightfully claim to be loving when behaving abusively.

Positive economics is in principle independent of any particular ethical position or normative judgment...In short, positive economics is or can be an "objective" science.

Better a poor steam engine that runs, than a good one never finished.

Everything will be okay. I have a sticker on my laptop that says that.

In order to overcome fear, your dream must become bigger than fear.

The trick is to have a career and have a family. It's like having two dogs that hate each other and you have to take them for a walk every night.

Most people's lives are a direct reflection of their peer groups.