I came into music just because I wanted the bread. It's true. I looked around and this seemed like the only way I was going to get the kind of bread I wanted.

I must be careful not to get trapped in the past. That's why I tend to forget my songs.

People get very thoughtful when they are in cars. I no longer care for cars. I don't collect them.

Patriotism is an instant reaction that fades away when the war starts.

I never really studied business in school. I kind of wish I had, but how boring is that?

I got nasty habits; I take tea at three.

The new fashion is to talk about the most private parts of your life; other fashion is to repent of your excesses and to criticize the drugs that made you happy in the other times.

I can't get no satisfaction.

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

I'd rather be dead than singing "Satisfaction" when I'm forty-five.

I don't really count myself as a very sophisticated businessperson. I'm a creative artist. All I know from business I've picked up along the way.

People have this obsession. They want you to be like you were in 1969. They want you to, because otherwise their youth goes with you. It's very selfish, but it's understandable.

Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope.

I am not a librarian of my own work. It's a good thing not to be too involved with what you have done.

Thank you for leaving us alone but giving us enough attention to boost our egos.

I haven't had the time to plan returning to the scene because I haven't left it.

The Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has just published the story of her life. I confess that it is not in my reading table.

My secrets must be poetic to be believable.

I have never wanted to give up performing on stage, but one day the tours will be over.

It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back.

People love talking about when they were young and heard Honky Tonk Women for the first time. It's quite a heavy load to carry on your shoulders, the memories of so many people.

A good thing never ends.

You wake up in the morning and you look at your old spoon, and you say to yourself, 'Mick, it's time to get yourself a new spoon.' And you do.

Lose your dreams and you might lose your mind.

The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.

The elusive nature of love... it can be such a fleeting thing. You see it there and it's just fluttering and it's gone.

I came into music just because I wanted the bread. It's true. I looked around and this seemed like the only way I was going to get the kind of bread I wanted.

A lot of times songs are very much of a moment, that you just encapsulate. They come to you, you write them, you feel good that day, or bad that day.

People think they know you. They know the things about you that you have forgotten.

As long as my face is on page one, I don't care what they say about me on page seventeen.

I am conservative with a small 'c.' It's possible to be conservative in fiscal policy, and tolerant on moral issues or questions of freedom of expression.

I believe we should encourage children to sing and play instruments from an early age.

I'd rather be dead than singing 'Satisfaction' when I'm forty-five.

Anyone taking heroin is thinking about taking heroin more than theyre thinking about anything else. Thats the general rule about most drugs.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.

Lose your dreams and you might lose your mind

There's no absolutes in life, only vodka.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.