"I'm a songwriter but she [Katie Melua] has her songs written for her... She must think it's her fucking lucky day... It's not like she's singing old songs like Jamie Cullum], she's singing shit new songs that her manager writes for her."

"You'll never get my mind right like 2 ships passing in the night."

"He walks away, The sun goes down, He takes the day but I'm grown And in your way, In this blue shade My tears dry on their own."

"The Moschino bra you bought me last Christmas Put it in the box, put it in the box Frank's in there and I don't care Put it in the box, put it in the box, Now take it, Take the box."

"You've got a degree in philosophy, So you think you're cleverer than me. But I'm not just some drama queen, Cos it's where you're at not where you've been. So what do you expect from me, To hold your head above the sea? And there are you even though you're bigger, Cos don't you know you crush my tiny figure? And anyway we're still so young And this isn't yet the day. I can't help you if you won't help yourself."

"You can't sit down right, Cause your jeans are too tight, And you're lucky it's ladies night. With your big empty purse, Every week it gets worse, At least your breasts cost more than hers."

"Then you notice likkle carpet burn My stomach drop and my guts churn You shrug and it's the worst Who truly stuck the knife in first? I cheated myself like I knew I would I told you I was trouble, you know that I'm no good I cheated myself, like I knew I would I told you I was trouble, yeah you know that I'm no good."

"a seething, dyslexic, better-looking British Bukowski"

"Britain's greatest cultural asset"

"Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!"

"What, like Harpic?"

"Bowie and McCartney arrived, and the biscuits and caviare started and I left immediately. I don’t like shouting across rooms, with people in shiny suits who look like used-car salesmen."

"Artists who don't paint aren't artists."

"I am angry with him but I have compassion for him. The reason I can have a relationship with him is that I don’t see him as my father but as an individual. I’m glad I didn’t murder him that day. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had."

"It has become an ongoing national joke."

"I loved moustaches. I used to draw myself with one. When I was 14, I was really into war and Van Gogh."

"Before 1999, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas offered to get me exhibitions, but joining the Stuckists put a kaibosh on all that — because I wasn't prepared to be controlled. I agreed to co-found the Stuckists to be allowed to say what I wanted, and I left the Stuckists because I didn't really want to be in them in the first place."

"I like being on the margins. You work better there."

"When I was better known than her, she put my name in that tent. I was asked to do Celebrity Big Brother, but why should I? We live in an age where fame is not related to what you do."

"Our enemy really isn't capitalism, it's cynicism. That's one the things I learned from Woody … Not to be cynical … That cynicism … It destroys you, it rots you away from the inside. So that sense of optimism and humanity … which 20 years ago I would have called socialism but now I'll call compassion … You know, that idea is still out there and alive and if you can plug into that and encourage that it makes it all worth while."

"A patriot is someone who cares what happens in their country."

"If the world could outlaw religion for one year you'd be surprised how much better the world would be. (Music Planet 2Nite, 2001)"

"A lot of journalists give me a hard time about how I look, but I've never met a journalist I'd rather look like. And it's not just a performance thing. I don't drive around the countryside in full makeup because it would scare the animals, but I've been wearing makeup since I was a teenager, after I saw Bowie wearing it on Top of the Pops. I immediately borrowed someone's older sister's makeup and put it on. I loved how odd it made me look, and the fact that it upset people. You put on eyeliner and people start screaming at you. How strange, and how marvellous."

"I love the anonymity of being Mr Smith. If I book a hotel it's actually very funny. It's very nice to be a genuine Mr Smith (Q 2000)"

"The Cure frontman, who had his first classical guitar lesson aged nine, is one of the most influential and underrated guitarists, creating his own sound by detuning his E string. [...] Many a novice has tried to emulate his extended outro solo on A Forest."

"It's really weird but my parents used to tell me I could do anything I wanted to. I used to say, 'Well, what if I want to be an astronaut and go to the moon?" and my dad used to say, 'If you really want to you can'. I used to think he was talking absolute rubbish, particularly when I was 21 and he was still saying that. But in a way it really stuck with me cos my dad ended up doing exactly what he wanted to do. To an outside point of view he's totally conformed, he's had a family and four kids but he's only ever done things that made him genuinely happy. "He jacked in his job cos it made him unhappy and he didn't want to compromise his entire life just for the sake of carrying it through. It's very admirable, that quality, and I think it's very rare in people. Most people feel so conditioned, so oppressed by everything that goes on around them that they just give in. You have to refuse to give in. (Melody Maker, March 7th 1992)"

"I got very frustrated when I was reading so-called classic books or films, or listening to underground music which is trying to tell you something. it´s all nonsense, and it´s disillusioning. So it would be a paradox for me to then decide I´m going to communicate something. (Sounds, August 24, 1985)"

"You know, the Internets made us more aware of what people think about us. (3RRR radio 2000)"

"There have been very few virtuosos in the history of the group, but there have been a lot of really nice people. The Cure backstage is a notoriously fun-filled zone. (JAM TV)"

"They may not like us, but they can't get away from knowing who we are. (Spin magazine 1988)"

"There is a reason for me always shoe-gazing. I simply can't look into the eyes of several thousand people. (Toronto Sun newspaper)"

"I used to go out with Severin a lot to dance clubs but we wouldn't dance. It'd be more like take drugs and try to get to the toilet which would usually take about two hours...we became good friends but we were never really good for each other. Our friendship was based entirely on altered states. Whenever we went out together I would never come home until the next day. Mary hated it. (Faith, 1983)"

"Originally I was going to take perverse satisfaction in making a depressing album. (Spin magazine 1989)"

"Refusing to grow up is like refusing to accept your limitations. That's why I don't think we'll ever grow up. (Melody Maker magazine 1992)"

"No, come to think of it, I don't think the Cure will end, but I can make up an ending if you want me to. (Spin magazine 1989)"

"Jimi Hendrix changed my life. Each generation influences the following one and as a consequence brings it back to the past. (L'Express newspaper 2000)"

"Most of the time I'm a professional idiot. I really don't care about what other people think, which can be a bad thing. (The Hit magazine 1985)"

"The Cure, is the kind of band that wanders in and out of the mainstream's gaze. (The Boston Globe newspaper 1997)"

"If I were offered the title [a knighthood] I would tell them to stick it up in their arses" (The FIB 2002)"

"If Morrissey says not to eat meat, then I’m going to eat meat; that’s how much I hate Morrissey. (Q, May 1989)"

"I wouldn't want to think people doted on us, hung on every word, or wanted to look like us. (Trouser Press 1980)"

"I'm not going to worry about the Cure slipping down into the second division; it doesn't bother me because I never expected to be in the first division anyway. [A soccer reference] (Alternative Press)"

"I wake up and look at myself and think, 'yuck!'. (MTV)"

"I think the rock'n'roll myth of living on the edge is a pile of crap. (Spin magazine 1987)"

"I think we're in the Top 10 most bootlegged bands in history according to a web-poll. Pretty much every show we ever do is bootlegged, but it's very rare that one is of good enough quality to be listened to by anything other than the most fanatical people though I suppose only fanatical people buy bootlegs. (X-Press magazine 2000)"

"I honestly don't class myself as a songwriter. I've got 'musician' written on my passport. That's even funnier. (The Hit magazine 1985)"

"I've always spent more time with a smile on my face than not, but the thing is, I don't write about it. (Rolling Stone magazine 1997)"

"I don't think of death in a romantic way anymore. (L'Express newspaper 2000)"

"I don't understand this obsession with banging out records. What a stupid attitude! Like the world is holding its breath waiting for the next Cure album. It isn't. (Papermag Paper Daily 1996)"

"I could write songs as bad as Wham's if I really felt the urge to, but what's the point? (The Hit magazine 1985)"