If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.

I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.

It's good to be anywhere.

Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen.

The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.

Let me be clear about this. I don't have a drug problem. I have a police problem.

To make a rock'n'roll record, technology is the least important thing.

Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll.

I've always been suspicious of TV, I've always found music and video to be an unhappy marriage.

You've got the sun, you've got the moon, and you've got the Rolling Stones.

Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.

I only get ill when I give up drugs.

It's great to be here. It's great to be anywhere.

Hey, we just enjoy it. I think we think we're getting the hang of this thing, you know?

When I listen to what I did under the influence - 10 years of work - I don't think it either enhanced or impaired me. It didn't have that much to do with it.

There's no substitute for live work to keep a band together.

I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police.

To me, as long as we've known each other, I've always thought Mick's most brilliant thing was that he could work in an area two foot square and give a very exciting performance.

I never thought I was wasted, but I probably was.

I have no idea what the audience makes of me.

If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.

It's an addiction... and addiction is something I should know something about.

The Stones in a club is still the ultimate rush.

If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.

About myself I have no great illusions. I know what I am. I know what I'm good at. I know what I ain't. I'm always hoping to surprise myself. But I do have a love of music and I do love to communicate it, and that's the best I can do, really. And I can raise a good family, too.

Everybody's got a different way of telling a story - and has different stories to tell.

I achieved everything I wanted to achieve by being in the Rolling Stones and making records.

I mean some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to their funeral.

I mean, give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string, I wouldn't get bored anywhere.

I've never tried to achieve anything. I achieved everything I wanted to achieve by being in the Rolling Stones and making records.

If you say I'm great, thank you very much. But I know what I am. I could be better, man, you know?

If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use both feet.

To me, my biggest fear is getting a big head, and that is when I get the hammer. Because it's very easy in this game to believe you're something special.

When you're supported by millions all over the world, you can either go nuts, or try to feed off the goodwill.

Yes, I've been trepanned. That's quite an interesting experience, especially for my brain surgeon, who saw my thoughts flying around in my brain.

You didn't know whether Chuck Berry was black or white - it was not a concern.

You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe - and you have the Rolling Stones!

You know, the BBC had not been particularly generous in its deliverance of blues and esoteric kinds of music.

Ive never had a problem with drugs. Ive had problems with the police.

If youre going to kick authority in the teeth you might as well use both feet.

Rock and roll ain't nothing but jazz with a hard backbeat.

I had given up the guitar between '75 and '78. I completely lost interest. I was sick of hearing other guitar players and I was tired of my tunes.

Every time the guys were knocked out by my guitar playing and the girls were knocked out by the type of songs I did. That set us apart from the average blues band.

I play piano and guitar. Acoustic guitar. I tried studying classical guitar when I was 16 but it got really hard. I could never play a lead to save my life.

Oh yeah, I mean, it wasn't a very good guitar, most good guitars have got thrust rods in the necks that you can adjust or that'll keep them in shape, you know keep them straight. This one just, well it turned into a bow and arrow after a couple of months.

In OK Computer, the guitar was already moving towards a tone generator as well as a riff generator.

Cool things happen. Ace's guitar flies through space, goes through a hole, and blows up. I throw drumsticks and they come flying at you.

Yes, I took up the guitar when I was about 14 or 15, in high school.

I keep a guitar around while writing and will improvise music. I do this for several reasons, such as that it's fun, and sometimes it helps me with the meter.