Elton John

I've got that resilient thing inside me. But I wasn't a happy bunny.

I went to a mixed school and I can't remember being bullied at school, ever. I was quite large, in those days. Usually, if you're going to be a bully, you'll pick on someone who is small. I didn't bully anybody, and I don't remember being bullied.

I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats though.

We were both very much the same. We were both very impulsive. We both loved life. We both loved shopping. We both had a love of clothes, obviously, because he was the designer that I kind of wore forever and ever.

I've always been dead set against festivals - really suspicious and wary.

Yeah. I have been with David Furnish for eight years, now.

I have no one to leave the money to. I'm a single man. I like spending my money.

I was more ashamed that I couldn't work the washing machine than the fact that I was taking drugs.

An agent is a person who is sore because an actor gets 90% of what they make.

Well, I was making a record, and I had to choose a name, because they said, you know, you can't make a record under the name of Reg Dwight, because it's never going to - you know, it's not attractive enough.

Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.

Bands today have to learn their craft by putting the hard work in that we did when we were young performers.

I just go into the studio, look at the lyrics for the first time when I put them on the piano, and go. If I haven't got it within 40 minutes, I give up. It's never changed, the thrill has never gone, because I don't know what I'm going to get next.

There's no pressure for me to go out there and say, I've got to have a top 40 hit because it's not going to happen.

Blue jean baby LA lady seamstress for the band. Pretty eyed pirate smile youll marry a music man. Ballerina you must have seen her dancing in the sand.

I mean, Sting is one of my great buddies and I love him to death.

If you write great songs with meaning and emotion, they will last for ever because songs are the key to everything. Songs will outlast the artist and they will go on for ever if they are good.

I've had an amazing professional life, personal life, but at 64 to have a son who gives us that much love and enjoyment is, wow!

And there's no guarantee that if you get HIV and you take these triple therapies, or whatever comes along next, that they're going to be successful for you.

I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life. I love the food. I love the people. I love the attitudes of Italians.

Well, as I was saying... everyone's so nice to me, usually.

Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving.

Because, I figured that, because I was a successful man, I was wealthy, I was, you know, seemingly intelligent - even that I am not intelligent enough to ask for help.

I do work a lot. I mean, most of my income, I would say, comes from live performances. And then you've got publishing, you've got record royalties.

I never really made a full album in Los Angeles before.

I'm not everybody's cup of tea. But sometimes criticism can be hurtful. Be respectful. I'm a good piano player, I can sing well, I write good songs. If you don't like it, fair enough. But give me a break.

Who really needs a new album from me?

Well, I'm a huge fan of Ryan Adams, who's from North Carolina. And he's beginning to break really quite big.

I'm a very wealthy man.

As a child, as a teenager, I was kind of not allowed to wear fashionable clothes.

And I trusted someone to look after me on the business side of life.

I never thought of myself as being handsome or good-looking or whatever.

I am the most well-known homosexual in the world.

For me, music is so passionate, I have to give it my all every time I go onstage. Onstage, it was always comfortable for me, because that's where I felt at home.

When people go to rehab and come out, they go through a difficult period, but I never had that.

Well, I've had my fair share in Britain of battling the tabloids.

Everything I thought I'd hate about having children the crying, the screaming, nothing fazes me. I love it all, and it's relaxed me.

People with HIV are still stigmatized. The infection rates are going up. People are dying. The political response is appalling. The sadness of it, the waste.

I loathe celebrity. I can't stand it.

And the danger is - and it's happening - is we're seeing an incredibly big rise amongst young gay people, young heterosexual people as far as catching HIV, which is, you know, in an educated country like this or in Britain, it's frightening.

And I agreed with that, and I couldn't wait to change my name anyway, because I'm not too fond of the name of Reginald. It's a very kind of '50s English name.

When Little Richard used to stand up and play it was just fabulous, and Liberace had the candlesticks and the rings and the gift of the gab. The piano's is the most ungainly rock' n' roll instrument of all time but those two people transcended it, as did Jerry Lee Lewis.

I've only been interested in the artistic side of life.

Everything I thought I'd hate about having children - the crying, the screaming - nothing fazes me. I love it all, and it's relaxed me.

I am such a Luddite when it comes to making music. All I can do is write at the piano.

I have a lot of money stashed away, but I do live my life from day to day.

I mean, in some cases with libel laws, you know, they can write things about people who have no course of action, because they can't afford to take legal action against them.

There's a lot of hate in the world.

I've always wanted to smash a guitar over someone's head. You just can't do that with a piano.

I never thought of myself as being handsome or good-looking or whatever. I always felt like an outsider.

If I was to say what I am, I'd be a Labour man. I like Tony Blair a lot, I think he's a good man. And in America I'd definitely be a Democrat; I'd never be a Republican.

Fame attracts lunatics.

I grew up at my grandmother's house and she had a beautiful garden. I used to hate mowing the lawn and weeding, which is what you do when you're a kid.

The worst thing you can do to a child, and I've seen it happen so many times, is the silver spoon.

I think performers are all show-offs anyway, especially musicians. Unless you show off, you're not going to get noticed.

I'm very generous.

As Elton John, my days on pop radio are over, and I know that and I accept it and I'm not unhappy about it.

The great thing about rock and roll is that someone like me can be a star.

I was just genuinely shy. I'd always been a shy kid.

And I talked to my doctor, and I must admit, you know, I'm sometimes quite renowned for my outbursts and I was just very frustrated, maybe a little frightened.

I grew up conservative because my mum was a conservative, and when I finally realized what conservatives were, I changed my mind immediately.

I loathe gardening, but I love gardens, and I have two beautiful gardens. I can not bear gardening, but I love gardens.

We live in an age, in an era where there is so much negativity, there is so much violence in the world, there is so much unrest and people are at war, that I wanted to promote the word love and red signifies love.

There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at goats.

I do like Britney Spears. I think she's cute. I think she's fun. And I like her records. You know, I'm not a pop snob whatsoever. I think she makes great pop records.

But you know, I have a pretty good relationship with the press and the paparazzi. It's just when they step over the line that, you know, enough's enough.

I just sit there and make up songs and sing to my son in gibberish. Im very good at gibberish now.

And I'm afraid, in this day and age, trust, which I count so, you know, I love loyalty. I love trust.

I love every minute of fatherhood, staying up all night, changing nappies, kids crying, I find it really funny and inspiring. It connects you to the world in a new way.

I have a much better relationship with the press than I did, I think because I stood my ground.

I've got to do something to make up for all those self-absorbed and selfish years when I just, you know, was taking drugs, sitting in my room, doing bad things, whatever.

I'm addicted to working. I mean, I have a list of 100 countries I want to play in. I'm basically killing myself by travelling so much, for no reason whatsoever.

I love the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it, which I loved in Sunday school and I collected all the little stickers and put them in my book. But the reality is that organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.

I don't have to compete in the charts. I can just be myself as a musician, a songwriter and play with the musicians that I really love.

The whole point of being in this business and being blessed and being successful is that you're able to do things for your friends or your family, which means that they can have something special in their lives, too.

I used to get my money at the end of the week, buy my mum something, or buy a record, and that was it.

If there is a better singer in England than Craig David, then I am Margaret Thatcher.

But actually, my drug addiction thing, I was so stubborn.

I'm very relaxed. I have a family, I have a partner of 20 years, I have a wonderful life; nothing could be better.

The thing about Vegas is, I don't have to fly anywhere, and that really helps. It means I stay in one place for three weeks at a time instead of flying backwards and forwards.

I've got a great collection of photography.

I've never been jealous of anybody's success. I've been flummoxed by it because I don't understand it, but I'm not jealous of it.