Guitarists From England

"I personally think it's a dreadful idea that Holocaust denial is, you know, a crime in various places because how are you going to give someone an opportunity to air their ridiculous views, without evidence, without giving someone else the opportunity to correct them?"

"[After his Question Time appearance] Suddenly, I was denounced by the whole of showbiz. I thought, Oh, it’ll be alright. But it wasn't. It just got worse and worse."

"Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever, who wasn't an incel. That cucked little woman has been fed, spoon-fed, oppression, day after day after day after day. We need powerful, strong amazing women who make great points for themselves. We don’t need this sort of feminist 4.0. They're pathetic and embarrassing. Who'd want to shag that?"

"You know, even in 1917 they've done it with a Sikh soldier, which is great. I mean, it's brilliant, but you're suddenly aware. It's like, "there were Sikhs fighting in the this war," and you're like, "OK, you're now diverting me away from a story of what the story is..." It is kind of racist, if there is racism. If you're talking about institutional racism, which is what everyone loves to go on about - which I'm not a believer in, you know - there is something institutionally racist about forcing diversity on people in that way."

"It's so easy to throw the charge of racism at everybody and it's really starting to get boring now."

"I've encountered racism from black people towards me, when I was working in Kenya for seven months. It’s the way you’re spoken to — racism can be deferential."

"I say, "Can we just get on and not be mean to each other?" But I feel compelled to be mean to the wokies."

"[On his vote in the 2017 general election.] I voted for "Magic Grandpa" Jeremy Corbyn last time, but then I realised he was an anti-semitic old Marxist."

"[Undecided on his vote for then forthcoming 2019 general election because of their "hate-speech laws".] You’re the Conservative Party, the clue's in the word! I would vote for a conservative party, but not this one."

"Just completed my GB News show trial. I mean disciplinary hearing. I think the rules are that I can't speak freely about it. Which is totally on brand. For the home of free speech."

"It's called free speech. I realise that the new woke world is low on laughter and high on offence, but it's still worth trying to find the lighter moments in this joyless new cancel culture which has been created for us."

"If I was going to be sensible and I could replay it, I would say: "Any self-respecting man in 2023 would probably be well advised to avoid a woman who possessed that worldview because she would probably cause him nothing but harm." But what I did say was, you know: "I wouldn't shag that," and all that sort of stuff, which is not right. It's demeaning to her, to Ava, so I'm sorry for demeaning you in that way, however angry I am with you still for doing that, and it demeans me because it's not representative of who I am."

"It's grim [...] but with it comes an incredible feeling of liberation. You think I can say anything because I'm not going to lose my job, because I've already lost my job. So now I can resist this disgusting religion of wokery. I'm going to resist it with all of my heart."

"My agent was like, "I’ll stand by you, darling ... Get out!""

"Success is standing. Success is getting to the end and not losing my mind."

"I should probably say only correct things, but I have a sneaking suspicion if everybody does that, the world’s going to die of boredom. The world needs a fool — not that I think I’m a fool. Though some may disagree."

"It turned into a creature with a life of its own.There was nothing we were doing to make it happen. We couldn’t recreate it because we never really understood how it happened. People decided they were all going to play it, and you feel like it’s disconnected from you. All we could do was stand back and take the congratulations that came."

"So often the story of rock’n’roll is told from a male perspective. So often it feels like men own music. And I still get as angry and frustrated about that as I ever did. Reading those women’s accounts of their lives has reminded me how much they paved the way back then. And history too often erases the women, in all art forms. Every single published story of a female artist goes a small way towards redressing the balance, and is another one saved from the fire.I didn’t try to be a soul singer, a jazz singer, a blues singer – no category…My music is my expression of what I feel and believe in a moment."

"“Never fancied him anyway,” I’d write when a boy dumped me. I’d leave out things that had gone wrong, or been difficult. I think it was partly an exercise in defiance, a refusal to be defeated by life’s adversities. So in that sense, my diary was a bit of a self-help manual, written by me, for me."

"I feel very lucky to still feel like I’m full of ideas. I think sometimes being in the beginning or the middle of things is almost the best bit. This sounds terrible, because it sounds so ungrateful, but I’m never as excited by the aftermath of things: whether or not they are successful. It’s lovely if they are, obviously, but actually the really exciting bit is when it’s an idea in your head and you’re getting working on it."

"I'm all lost in the supermarket I can no longer shop happily I came in here for that special offer A guaranteed personality"

"He was just there, looking fantastic... the bastard."

"Real sexiness is about confidence, intelligence, mystery, art and passion."

"The production of farming all animals is damaging the planet. The feed and grain that these animals consume, the toxins that come from farming, what it's doing to the land and the air, how we're messing with these animals' natural habitats, behaviors, patterns, their health and ecosystems. My favourite thing about being vegan is honestly that it's the most kind way to live. It gives me a sense of peace and self-worth. I feel like everything is better for me mentally. Physically I feel stronger and cleaner inside, with no hormones and toxins of a living thing being processed by my body. I feel so healthy. More focused and energized."

"I would never say "I'm straight, I'm bisexual, I'm gay". I feel like I will fall in love with a human being for who they are. I'm not afraid to say I've been attracted to a woman before and I've kissed girls before and been in love with them before. I've never really had a girlfriend or anything and I would never say I'm anything, really. I don't have an identity in that way."

"My advice to a young artist is don't sign a deal. Know that there are other options out there. Because the power is taken away from you. I was 18 when I signed my record deal and it was all these older men who didn't give a fuck about my mental health and they worked me like a donkey. They're always happy to take the money, but when I experimented and changed direction musically – which every artist should be able to do – I was dropped immediately. But they're still happy to collect the cash from my first record now."

"'Females of all description' is not a music genre. It's sexist. [There would] never be a 'males of all description' section because the rest of the shop and all other music genres are considered male. Female is not a genre. Don't categorise my sex."

"There is no nurturing of talent [in the music industry]. No one wants artists to grow and develop. Everyone is afraid of being fired and they didn't move with the digital age. The music industry had the power to move with the digital age, but they didn't do it and it was the biggest mistake they ever made. It fucked them really bad. And they waste so much money! It's ridiculous, they don't use it wisely. There are a lot of uncreative people in a creative industry. Most of them want to keep their jobs and don't know how to be innovative."

"She's here now, perfume coiled like a thuggee scarf"

"The streets seemed very crowded, I put on my bravest guise I know you know that I am acting, I can see it in your eyes."

"If we were always here and now, electric shiver in the spine, how could we turn away, see life as grey and drab? How come we don't see what we have?"

"Obviously we're English middle-class chaps - there's not much voodoo chile about us."

"These words are not enough to save my soul, they just mock me from the mirror."

"Re-awakening isn't easy when you're tired. Don't push me: I was taught self-expression when I was a child"

"It is actually, in a way, an incredibly mundane experience. Not everyone has a heart attack but everyone has something or other, so I'm not remotely special. Just because I write songs doesn't make it a better or worse near-death experience."

"I think Muse won because Matt Bellamy is a guitar hero for the 21st century. He's genuinely innovative, a real creative type who comes up with unique guitar parts."

"Musical genius Matthew Bellamy — Freddie Mercury meets Kurt Cobain meets Thom Yorke…and a hell of a nice and humble guy."

"I used to dress up like Michael Jackson. I didn’t have the glove, but I had a red jacket like in Thriller."

"It's silly to call me the new Ed Sheeran. He can fill stadiums as a solo artist, but I'm not like that."

"When you make a certain sound and look your thing, it makes it all the more impactful to drop that and start with a new thing. So I cut my hair off and lost the hat. It felt only natural to me to tear that canvas down and put a new one up."

"I wanna give you wild love The kind that never slows down I wanna take you high up Let our hearts be the only sound"

"Now we're sleeping near the edge Holding something we don't need All this delusion in our heads Is gonna bring us to our knees So come on, let it go Just let it be Why don't you be you And I'll be me?"

"Tell me how to be in this world Tell me how to breathe in and feel no hurt Tell me how 'cause I believe in something I believe in us"

"Hold back the river Let me look in your eyes Hold back the river So I can stop for a minute and see where you hide Hold back the river, hold back"

"To find out where the origin of symmetry is would be to find out if God exists."

"What I know of this world is what my senses have told me."

"Often we'll verge on embarrassing territory, a certain over-the-topness. But maybe that's just trying to unveil something that's inside all of us."

"You could be my unintended choice To live my life extended. You could be the one I'll always love. You could be the one who listens To my deepest inquisitions. You could be the one I'll always love."

"Offending people is better than no reaction at all."

"The differential between the bubble we live in — which is ‘ordinary life’ — and the reality out there is almost as heavy as what is being depicted in a film like ‘the Matrix’. It could make you puke to make that step towards finding out what’s really going on."