David Bowie

"I always had a repulsive sort of need to be something more than human. I felt very very puny as a human. I thought, "Fuck that. I want to be a superman.""

"I'm an instant star. Just add water and stir."

"I suppose I’ve been knocking on heaven’s door for about 11 years now, with one sort of high or another. The only kinds of drugs I use, though, are ones that keep me working for longer periods of time. I haven’t gotten involved in anything heavy since ’68. I had a silly flirtation with smack then, but it was only for the mystery and enigma of trying it. I never really enjoyed it at all. I like fast drugs. I’ve said that many times. I hate falling out, where I can’t stand up and stuff. It seems like such a waste of time. I hate downs and slow drugs like grass. I hate sleep. I would much prefer staying up, just working, all the time. It makes me so mad that we can’t do anything about sleep or the common cold."

"I get offered so many bad movies. And they're all raging queens or transvestites or Martians."

"I'm terribly intuitive—I always thought I was intellectual about what I do, but I've come to the realisation that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing half the time, that the majority of the stuff that I do is totally intuitive, totally about where I am physically and mentally at any moment in time and I have a far harder time than anybody else explaining it and analysing it. That's the territory of the artist anyway: to be quite at sea with what he does, and working towards not being intuive about it and being far more methodical and academic about it."

"I think fame itself is not a rewarding thing. The most you can say is that it gets you a seat in restaurants."

"Music has given me over 40 years of extraordinary experiences. I can't say that life's pains or more tragic episodes have been diminished because of it. But it's allowed me so many moments of companionship when I've been lonely and a sublime means of communication when I wanted to touch people. It's been both my doorway of perception and the house that I live in. I only hope that it embraces you with the same lusty life force that it graciously offered me."

"[While filming 'Ashes to Ashes'] So we're on the beach shooting this scene with a giant bulldozer. The camera was on a very long lens. [The camera is along way away, but the artist fills the frame] In this video I'm dressed from head to toe in a clown suit. Why not. I hear playback and the music starts. So off I go, I start singing and walking, but as soon as I do this old geezer with an old dog walk right between me and the camera... Well, knowing this is gonna take a while I walked past the old guy and sat next to camera in my full costume waiting for him to pass. As he is walking by camera the director said, excuse me Mr do you know who this is? The old guy looks at me from bottom to top and looks back to the director and said... "Of course I do!!!! its some cunt in a clown suit." That was a huge moment for me, It put me back in my place and made me realize, yes I'm just a cunt in a clown suit. I think about that old guy all the time."

"Never play to the gallery... Never work for other people in what you do. Always remember that the reason that you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist with the rest of society... I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfil other people's expectations."

"Ageing is an extraordinary process... If you are pining for youth I think it produces a stereotypical old man because you only live in memory, you live in a place that doesn’t exist … I think ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been."

"It's odd but even when I was a kid, I would write about "old and other times" as though I had a lot of years behind me. Now I do, so there is a difference in the weight of memory. When you're young, you're still "becoming", now at my age I am more concerned with "being". And not too long from now I'll be driven by "surviving", I'm sure. I kind of miss that "becoming" stage, as most times you really don't know what's around the corner. Now, of course, I've kind of knocked on the door and heard a muffled answer. Nevertheless, I still don't know what the voice is saying, or even what language it's in."

"Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write. I didn't like writing "Heathen". There was something so ominous and final about it. It was early in the morning, the sun was rising and through the windows I could see two deer grazing down below in the field. In the distance a car was driving slowly past the reservoir and these words were just streaming out and there were tears running down my face. But I couldn't stop, they just flew out. It's an odd feeling, like something else is guiding you, although forcing your hand is more like it."

"Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any Gods' presence in his life. He is the 21st century man. However, there's no theme or concept behind Heathen, just a number of songs but somehow there is a thread that runs through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums."

"I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I'm not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does. There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means. What is very enlightening for me right now is that I sense that I'm arriving at a place of peace with my writing that I've never experienced before. I think I'm going to be writing some of the most worthwhile things that I've ever written in the coming years. I'm very confident and trusting in my abilities right now. But I've got to think of myself as the luckiest guy. Robert Johnson only had one album's worth of work as his legacy. That's all that life allowed him."

"All the young dudes Carry the news Boogaloo dudes Carry the news."

"If our love song Could fly over mountains, Could laugh at the ocean, Just like the films, There's no reason To feel all the hard times, To lay down the hard lines. It's absolutely true.Nothing much could happen Nothing we can't shake Oh we're absolute beginners With nothing much at stake As long as you're still smiling There's nothing more I need I absolutely love you But we're absolute beginners. But if my love is your love We're certain to succeed."

"Ground Control to Major Tom. Ground Control to Major Tom. Take your protein pills and put your helmet on."

"This is Major Tom to Ground Control. I'm stepping through the door, And I'm floating in a most peculiar way. And the stars look very different today.For here Am I sitting in a tin can, Far above the world. Planet Earth is blue, And there's nothing I can do."

"I'm the cream Of the great utopia dream. And you're in the gleam In the depths of your banker's spleen."

"In the corner of the morning in the past I would sit and blame the master first and last. All the roads were straight and narrow And the prayers were small and yellow. And the rumour spread that I was aging fast. Then I ran across a monster who was sleeping By a tree. And I looked and frowned and the monster was me."

"Day after day They send my friends away To mansions cold and grey. To the far side of town Where the thin men stalk the streets While the sane stay underground.Day after day, They tell me I can go. They tell me I can blow To the far side of town Where it's pointless to be high, 'Cause it's such a long way down."

"Man is an obstacle, sad as the clown (Oh by jingo) So hold on to nothing, and he won't let you down."

"Live to your rebirth and do what you will (Oh by jingo) Forget all I've said, please bear me no ill."

"We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes I thought you died alone, a long long time ago."

"When all the world was very young And mountain magic heavy hung The supermen would walk in file Guardians of a loveless isle."

"Still don't know what I was waiting for And my time was running wild. A million dead-end streets and Every time I thought I'd got it made It seemed the taste was not so sweet. So I turned myself to face me But I've never caught a glimpse Of how the others must see the faker I'm much too fast to take that test."

"I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream Of warm impermanence. So the days float through my eyes But still the days seem the same. And these children that you spit on As they try to change their worlds Are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through."

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes Turn and face the strange."

"It's a god-awful small affair To the girl with the mousy hair But her mummy is yelling "No" And her daddy has told her to go But her friend is nowhere to be seen Now she walks through her sunken dream To the seat with the clearest view And she's hooked to the silver screen. But the film is a saddening bore 'Cause she's lived it ten times or more."

"Pushing through the market square, so many mothers sighing News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in. News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying."

"There's a starman waiting in the sky He'd like to come and meet us, But he thinks he'd blow our minds."

"Making love with his ego Ziggy sucked up into his mind Like a leper messiah. When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band."

"Ziggy played guitar."

"(Hey man) oh leave me alone you know (Hey man) oh Henry, get off the phone, I gotta (Hey man) I gotta straighten my face This mellow thighed chick just put my spine out of place."

"Oh don't lean on me man, cause you can't afford the ticket Back from Suffragette City Oh don't lean on me man 'Cause you ain't got time to check it You know my Suffragette City Is outta sight...she's all right ...Ah wham, bam, thank you ma'am!"

"Who'll love Aladdin Sane? Battle cries and champagne just in time for sunrise."

"This ain't rock'n'roll. This is genocide!"

"You've got your mother in a whirl She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl. Hey babe, your hair's alright. Hey babe, let's go out tonight. You like me, and I like it all. We like dancing and we look divine. You love bands when they're playing hard. You want more and you want it fast."

"Rebel Rebel, you've torn your dress. Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess. Rebel Rebel, how could they know? Hot tramp, I love you so!"

"Do you remember, your President Nixon? Do you remember, the bills you have to pay? Or even yesterday?"

"Fame, (fame) makes a man take things over Fame, (fame) lets him loose, hard to swallow Fame, (fame) puts you there where things are hollow Fame (fame)Fame, it's not your brain, it's just the flame That burns your change to keep you insane (sane)."

"Don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere, angel Come get up my baby. Look at that sky, life's begun Nights are warm and the days are young Come get up my baby."

"You're such a wonderful person But you got problems oh-oh-oh-oh I'll never touch you."

"I, I wish you could swim Like the dolphins Like dolphins can swim Though nothing, nothing will keep us together We can beat them, forever and ever Oh, we can be heroes just for one day."

"I, I will be king. And you, you will be queen. Though nothing will drive them away. We can beat them, just for one day. We can be heroes, just for one day."

"It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it More idols than realities, ooh-ooh... Yeah, yeah, yeah, up the hill backwards It'll be alright, ooh-ooh"

"I've never done good things I've never done bad things I never did anything out of the blue, whoa whoa Want an axe to break the ice Wanna come down right now Ashes to ashes, funk to funky We know Major Tom's a junkie Strung out in heaven's high Hitting an all-time low. My mama said to get things done You'd better not mess with Major Tom"

"Well, I've been breaking these rocks And cutting this hay Yes, I've been breaking these rocks What's my price to pay? Well, the river's so muddy, but it may come clear And I know too well what's keeping me here I'm just a slave of a burning ray Oh, give me the night, I can't take another sight"

"Because you're young You'll meet a stranger some night Because you're young What could be nicer for you And it makes me sad So I'll dance my life away A million dreams, a million scars ...Left him nearly out of his mind They're people I know - people I love They seem so unhappy - dead or alive"

"Silhouettes and shadows Watch the revolution No more free steps to heaven Just walkie-talkie Heaven or hearth Just big heads and drums Full speed and pagan And it's no game"