There was mass hysteria in the Chess Recording Studio when I did the "Shapes of Things" solo ... they weren't expecting it, and it was just some weird mist coming from the East out of an amp.

Things turn out better by accident sometimes. But you can't organize accidents.

After I saw Jimmy [Hendrix] play, I just went home and wondered what the f*** I was going to do with my life.

That old funny-shaped bit of wood is still staring me in the face every day saying 'come on, you haven't started yet!' It's infinite.

The Strat covers the complete spectrum of human emotion .. the tremolo enables you to do anything - you can hit any note known to mankind

Nowadays music is as disposable as a McDonald's wrapper.

I've never stuck around long enough to know if anyone would miss me. That's rock 'n' roll, though. Here today, gone tomorrow.

My first wife said, 'It's either that guitar or me,' you know -- and I give you three guesses which one went.

I cherish my privacy, and woe betide anyone who tries to interfere with that.

A lot of solos I hear sound so incredible, but they sound like somebody practicing. They sound a bit soulless - fiery, but at the same time, lacking in spirit and soul.

I like an element of chaos in music. That feeling is the best thing ever, as long as you don't have too much of it.

None of the dead come back. But some stay.

I like to travel in jeans because I don't want to wallow around in my suit, you know? They cost too much. Jeans are comfortable.

I think people are starting to think of me less as an actor and more as a writer.

It's amazing what you can hide just by putting on a smile.

Parents want their kids’ approval, a reversal of the past ideal of children striving for their parents’ approval.

Women's networks are a necessary part of life. A mixture of empathy and brainstorming can move mountains.

Happy the life, that in a peaceful stream, Obscure, unnoticed through the vale has flow'd; The heart that ne'er was charm'd by fortune's gleam Is ever sweet contentment's blest abode.

None would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; And, from the dregs of life, think to receive, What the first sprightly running could not give.

As a kid I didn't root for the bad guys.

One fact must be familiar to all those who have any experience of human nature - a sincerely religious man is often an exceedingly bad man.