I was approached by Oxfam to go to Mali as their ambassador and get involved in their various initiatives out there. But I felt that was missing the point of using me, a musician.

The Gorillaz cartoons seem more real to me than the actual people on TV. Because at least you know that there's some intelligence behind the cartoons, and there's a lot of work that's gone into it, so it can't all be just a lie.

And there are no stars and that you're never really sure who's doing what and what voice is what and, you know what I mean? It's supposed to be quite elusive.

As a musician usually music is your way out.

As soon as it sounds fine, I'm on to the next thing, man.

When you're doing a deal with someone in the southern Sahara, it's a very different way of doing business than in London. You can't sign them in the usual way because they'd end up getting ripped off, which would defeat the object of setting up a label like this.

I hope we can keep doing it this way - making music and art that are pure products of our influences while not really having to let the whole celebrity side of it get in the way. Then maybe more virtual bands will come out and do the same thing.

I was approached by Oxfam to go to Mali as their ambassador and get involved in their various initiatives out there. But I felt that was missing the point of using me, a musician.

It's not like my old self - I'm not in character anymore, I'm me. I'm not hiding behind that anymore.

Being in Blur has allowed me to travel and hear the music that's being made all over the world.

The cartoon is a metaphor really for the fact that it's almost impossible in our celebrity obsessed culture to move around genres and sort of change you ideas, change your face, you know?

I can't be bothered anymore about giving songs titles.

The things that make me happy most are my family and working.

You know, there are many alter egos and Gorillaz is a collective of alter egos, really. I think anyone who gets involved in it has to sort of accept that nothing is really as it seems.

No, every album is something like a snapshot. It only shows one moment in time. It shows what we feel and think right at that point in time, nothing more and nothing less.

I'm not really one of those people who believes that if you're a musician you can just leave that behind and start getting into politics.

The whole period has taught me that I enjoy being part of an ensemble rather than just a front man. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy that too, but I get more enjoyment out of really listening to everyone.

More and more, cultural groups are cross-pollinating, and we're getting much more interesting art as a result.

China is one of those vast, continental conglomerates that... I mean, if they were to start a tourist trade in China, they'd just bus people in from another province, you know what I mean? They're very self-contained.

I don't need to be a frontman all the time, and in fact, the older I get, the less of an urge it is inside me to play that role. I've still got it inside me, and I do occasionally allow it out.

I like to go to Africa purely with something to do. I'm not very comfortable getting into an armor-plated Land Rover and going to see things, with my hand gel, you know, it's not me at all. So I like to hang out and you know, really get to know people and try and do something that resonates with them.

I spent two years figuring out how I could turn it into something that would satisfy me as a musician but also make some kind of cross-cultural link. I feel that I kind of at least touched on the possibilities of cross-cultural music, but it is a lifetime's work, and I don't profess to be anything other than a novice at it.

I want to be a better person in every aspect. I really don't feel I've in anyway fulfilled my potential in every area of my life. But I'm optimistic.

I'm a working musician, so it's what I do. I kind of always have lots of plates spinning, and it's the ones that keep spinning the longest that I end up doing.

I'm not a monarchist. But I'm English. And I have an irrational emotion for my country.

If you don't see something as a career but as an important part of your life, you don't know how you're going to feel about it.

It always struck me that Africa was, in a strange way, a futuristic place and had elements and vibes and spirits that were going to inform the future. Africa Express is an attempt to engage that power outside Africa, and for everyone to benefit from it.

Music is something that should speak for itself, straight from the heart. It took me a long time to understand that.

What you learn from working with other performers and musicians is invaluable, really, and can only help you grow. I mean, if you spend your whole life focusing on yourself, you're not really learning much.

Whenever you're writing something that's reflective, you have to put yourself through some sort of ordeal just to understand the way you're feeling.

I want to be a better person in every aspect. I really dont feel Ive in anyway fulfilled my potential in every area of my life. But Im optimistic.

I naturally want to be provocative.

We're making progress, but getting machines to replicate our ability to perceive and manipulate the world remains incredibly hard.

What has made America amazing has been the fact that throughout our history, throughout the more than 200 years of our history, there have been men and women of courage who stood up and decided it was more important to look out for the future of their children and their grandchildren than their own political futures.

When the war is over then comes help.

Self-denial and self-discipline, however, will be recognized as the outstanding qualities of a good soldier.

I will listen to any argument put to me.

Sometimes the right response to evil is an appeal to powerful and effective social organization - an appeal to civilization itself.

Bruce Wayne is Batman. He became Batman the instant his parents were murdered. Batman needs Bruce, however hollow that identity feels to him from time to time. Bruce keeps Batman human.

I do things because I enjoy it. That used to be my downfall, but now it's the upside.

I like doing yoga. I do yoga three times a week and I do Pilates twice.

To err is human also in so far as animals seldom or never err, or at least only the cleverest of them do so.

When they hand you your diploma keep moving. Just in case they try to take it back.

I never wanted to end up in entertainment; that wasn't the goal.

I've never really been star struck. I was a little bit taken aback when I was doing a chat show recently and I was sat in the make-up chair chatting to a guy say next to me but I couldn't look round and see who it was, it was only when I got up I realised it had been Bryan Adams I'd been talking to!

I know how critical it is to make sure that people with pre-existing conditions have affordable insurance, and states are able to do that.

A woman should be an illusion.

In the early days, I had very little idea about arrangements, and I wrote songs a little flat, as it were, just on an acoustic guitar. They didn't really have quite enough nuance.

An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.