John Lydon famous quotes

When you talk like an ***** and look like an asshole, you're an asshole
-- John Lydon

#Looks

You never know how things will work out. After all the bad reasons in the world, some good came out.
-- John Lydon

#Work Out #World #Reason

I'm very open about my politics. I don't believe in any political party at all, none of them.
-- John Lydon

#Party #Believe #Political

I'm aware of my songs. I'm aware of them because they're about true emotions, true feelings, things that matter.
-- John Lydon

#Song #Feelings #Matter

You'd have to be daft as a brush to say you didn't like Pink Floyd.
-- John Lydon

#Brushes

I don't believe in false memories, like I don't believe in false songs.
-- John Lydon

#Song #Memories #Believe

I'm not this callous clown walking around laughing at life all the time. I've had some serious, serious problems in my life. But I've come out with a smile.
-- John Lydon

#Laughing #Serious #Problem

I do use my music to entertain myself, as indeed I use other people's music.
-- John Lydon

#People #Use

When you come from desperate poverty, and that's exactly what I come from, you know that nonsenses are not to be tolerated. I'm not sure who gains from chaos, but I know it's not the poor folks in the council flats. The politics of vindictiveness is never, ever anything like a solution.
-- John Lydon

#Gains #Poverty #Chaos

I somehow hope - naïve though I may be, utopian, possibly - that my music has some kind of calming effect on the universe, that it's somehow beneficial to people.
-- John Lydon

#People #May #Calming

Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.
-- John Lydon

#Negative #Sometimes #Boring

I'm not able to tell you what the best song is yet, because there's more to come. I feel that in me. I can still feel the burning energy and the desire to create and create and create.
-- John Lydon

#Song #Desire #Energy

Just because people think politically different to you doesn't mean they're inhuman.
-- John Lydon

#Mean #Thinking #People

My way of thinking as I approach any human being on this planet is, 'What are you doing now?' That's what interests me. I don't come at anybody with a whole bunch of assumptions.
-- John Lydon

#Thinking #Way #Assumption

Freedom isn't to do what you want at somebody else's expense.
-- John Lydon

#Want #What You Want #Expenses

I hate the technological rip-offs that pass for music formats these days, and go back to vinyl to hear a good record because the sound is always so much fuller. I don't even like listening to music in the car.
-- John Lydon

#Rip #Hate #Car

Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.
-- John Lydon

#Innocence #States

I like lime-flavoured yoghurt. The end. There is no religion. It’s a man-made fabrication. Once you understand that, you’ll be a happier individual. Atheism is as pointless as satanism.
-- John Lydon

#Men #Atheism #Individual

Being born into the Royal Family is like being born into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something to be taken lightly.
-- John Lydon

#Taken #Bipolar #Asylums

Punk became a circus didn't it? Everybody got it wrong. The message was supposed to be: Don't follow us, do what you want!
-- John Lydon

#Want #Circus #Messages

Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they're trying to relay to you.
-- John Lydon

#Gossip #Trying #Tools

Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.
-- John Lydon

#Love Is #Noise #Minutes

I have one major problem with the internet: It's full of liars. There doesn't seem to be any way to answer to people lying about you.
-- John Lydon

#Lying #Liars #People

Britain's an island; it's always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration - it makes it a better place.
-- John Lydon

#Islands #Ebb And Flow #Immigration

Move to Italy. I mean it: they know about living in debt; they don't care. I stayed out there for five months while I was making a film called 'Order Of Death,' and they've really got it sussed. Nice cars. Sharp suits. Great food. Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That's living!
-- John Lydon

#Nice #Moving #Mean

I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song.
-- John Lydon

#Song #Writing #Easy

All the things that you would have thought would have made me a professional A1 criminal... wrong. I decided that was too lazy and easy, and because of the way British society is, quite frankly you were denied an education, so I got one of my own.
-- John Lydon

#Lazy #Criminals #Way

I'm 100% proud of the TV work I achieved. The work I did on shows on insects and Great White sharks... stuff that's in school curriculums in England. Now they are showing up on Discovery Channel.
-- John Lydon

#School #White #Discovery

Any new ideas go into PiL. My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to. I don't listen to any music when I'm in PiL-zone, because influences can poison your well. Otherwise, I listen to anything.
-- John Lydon

#Inspiration #Ideas #Poison

I went to visit Alcatraz years ago when I was on tour with the Pistols, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place. I genuinely, really, thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning there. I just liked the quietness and stillness of what is basically a cruel prison complex. I still found some kind of joy in that. That's how I am.
-- John Lydon

#Morning #Years #Joy

I don't believe in anarchy, because it will ultimately amount to the power of the bully, with weapons. Gandhi is my life's inspiration: passive resistance. I don't want to live in the Thunderdome with Mad Max.
-- John Lydon

#Bullying #Inspiration #Believe

I love conversation and the sharing of different thoughts and philosophies. That kind of stuff always makes me happy. I don't mind interviews, either - I like doing them.
-- John Lydon

#Philosophy #Mind #Interviews

I was brought up and raised in Britain as a Labour man, and that quickly changed. And I find there are more working-class people in the Conservative Party than the Labour party.
-- John Lydon

#Party #Men #Class

I don't believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free. But I can sit and watch an ant run up and down the floor for hours. I use a magnifying glass to look at the beautiful shape of the thing.
-- John Lydon

#Beautiful #Running #Believe

I wanted to wear the most impenetrable suit of armour ever known to mankind. 'Hello, Mr. Rotten...' You can't say anything about me. You can't put me down in any way shape or form - I'm rotten to the core... you know, what's left for you? Pleasantries? I suppose the worst insult you could sling my way is 'Oh, he's really nice, him.'
-- John Lydon

#Nice #Say Anything #Rotten

I showed what I can do with butter, right? Eighty-five percent increase in sales. I'm very proud of them Country Life ads. They were funny and clever and classy like the Toblerone ads I grew up with.
-- John Lydon

#Country #Clever #Proud

I love boating - not flash, 'noisy go fast' nonsense, but the general relaxation of it. My wife and I love to get in our little Wellcraft and go as far out to sea as we can, hopefully beyond land. That is the best thing you can ever do. It clears your psyche.
-- John Lydon

#Sea #Land #Wife

A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And you couldn't get any further, and the heads of each department were changing all the time, so you couldn't have any permanent relationship within the corporation.
-- John Lydon

#People #Soul #Corporations

Pop music I have always loved best.
-- John Lydon

#Pops #Pop Music

Pop music I have always loved best. But the more extreme, fascist-led examples of the music business I tend to detest the most.
-- John Lydon

#Example #Fascists #Pops

Situationism is a ludicrous proposition. It's ill-formed and it's perfectly French. That Gallic disposition towards common sense. L'Anarchie!
-- John Lydon

#Common Sense #Common #Disposition

The record companies fell apart - quite deservedly. Their corrupting, all-binding contract nonsense had to stop.
-- John Lydon

#Records #Nonsense #Contracts

There are no limits to where our brains can take us. We are, if there be a God, God's gracious creation.
-- John Lydon

#If There Is A God #Brain #Limits

U2 - that's a band that never should have existed. There's no life experience in any of their songs.
-- John Lydon

#Song #Band #Life Experience

Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they're treated.
-- John Lydon

#Country #Democracy #Problem

When I write, my brain moves faster than my hands so I'm always trying to picture things.
-- John Lydon

#Moving #Writing #Hands

When you grew up like me and my four brothers, you end up feeling somewhat inadequate, like somehow you don't count.
-- John Lydon

#Brother #Feelings #Four

'Lollipop Opera' is the backdrop to Finsbury Park. A place that is very thriving, interracial and lot of music stores, Greek, Turkish, all sorts of immigrant music. It's utter Englishness. It blends the Jamaicans, the Irish. It's like what Jim Reeves did with American country music.
-- John Lydon

#Country #Greek #Parks

Having a birthday cake squashed into your face by young kids? Delicious. I always don a Santa suit at Christmas. Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.
-- John Lydon

#Birthday #Kids #Cake

I've never told anyone this. But I suffer from terrible stage fright. True. You can't tell though, can you? Unbelievable, the panic. I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can't eat a thing the day before a gig. It'd make me vomit.
-- John Lydon

#Suffering #Wicked #Gigs

Periods of inactivity, I don't know such things. I'm consistently writing. My life is busy. It always is. There are hardly any moments for self-indulgent laziness.
-- John Lydon

#Writing #Self #Laziness

You know, I've been to some superstars' houses, and I've been really disgusted when I see their platinum discs hanging in the toilet. They're just there on the walls glaring at you when you're trying to be occupied with other things.
-- John Lydon

#Wall #House #Trying

People should never allow themselves to be dictated to by media.
-- John Lydon

#Media #People #Should

I'm not great at dealing with death, I have to say. I find death very hard: my mum, my dad, Sid Vicious. I'm not a monster; I feel it and it scares me. One death at a time, please, is all my heart will bear.
-- John Lydon

#Dad #Heart #Scare

I've always said, I thought the Sex Pistols was more Music Hall than anything else - because I think that really, more truths are said in humour than any other form.
-- John Lydon

#Sex #Thinking #Pistols

Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That's living!
-- John Lydon

#Lunch #Three

My reputation is a media creation.
-- John Lydon

#Media #Reputation #Creation

Me, as a human, I never want to take away another human being's choices or lifestyles or anything.
-- John Lydon

#Choices #Want #Lifestyle

As a human being, I'm work in process.
-- John Lydon

#Process #Humans

Books are like my one and only joy.
-- John Lydon

#Book #Joy #My One And Only

I've always despised the hippies.
-- John Lydon

#Hippie

I love books, and all the best ones are people analysing their own emotions. You can learn from that.
-- John Lydon

#Book #People #Emotion

You can always wake up on the wrong side of the bed and, boo-hiss, everyone suffers. We can all be temperamental.
-- John Lydon

#Suffering #Bed #Wake Up

I have values. But morals are Christian. There's no religion here. Values. Don't hurt when you don't need to, but don't let anybody step over that line - it's an invisible line, but it's respect for somebody's space.
-- John Lydon

#Christian #Hurt #Space

I hate death; it takes people away from you. You're left feeling rudderless.
-- John Lydon

#Hate #People #Feelings

If you give me the chance, I'll destroy America for you.
-- John Lydon

#America #Giving #Chance

Anyone who's parading under a $100,00-plus video is not free from corporate. That's just the MTV advertising agency. I find them all to be just a bit of a sham.
-- John Lydon

#Agency #Mtv #Video

I'd love to have been born into a wealthy family. I might have turned out even more marvellous than I am now...
-- John Lydon

#Family #Might #Born

If the Royal Family was going to assassinate someone, they would have gotten rid of me a long time ago.
-- John Lydon

#Long #Royal #Royal Family

Judge not others unless you're prepared to be judged!
-- John Lydon

#Judging #Prepared #Judged

I'm just permanently agitated by everything and everyone.
-- John Lydon

I've been asked over the years to compile a list of desert-island discs. I couldn't do that. If I was trapped on a desert island, I don't think I'd want 10 songs to bring with me.
-- John Lydon

#Song #Thinking #Islands

I've created several musical trends, really. That's not because I'm so far out and fabulous. It's because most bands have no ideas of their own. They're so desperate they'll grab at any old straw.
-- John Lydon

#Ideas #Musical #Band

I've had great pleasure meeting the likes of Newt Gingrich and having a chat with the fellow on a staircase. I found him completely dishonest and totally likeable, because he doesn't care! He knows what a politician is, and he's a perfect embodiment of one.
-- John Lydon

#Perfect #Care #Embodiment

I've helped launch 49 careers - those that have been in PiL. To me, they are my babies; whatever they get up to, they know I love them. They've been living in my pockets, and they should show more gratitude.
-- John Lydon

#Baby #Gratitude #Careers

I've never done anything deliberately; I just speak my mind, and that is what I consistently do and will always do in any way shape or form that I can.
-- John Lydon

#Mind #Done #Shapes

If you ever want to know why I'm not on a record label, look at 'The X Factor!' Honestly, of all the people that strive to break barriers in music and do good things and write great lyrics, not one of them would ever pass the first round on any of these competitions.
-- John Lydon

#Writing #People #Competition

It's volatile, the marriage. Which one isn't? Nothing better than a good, full-on row. Get it all out. Say rude and nasty things. And then be sorry. Genuinely sorry, afterwards.
-- John Lydon

#Sorry #Rude #Nasty

My entire life, socially, was all around the Maggie era. That was the great challenge as a Sex Pistol was how to deal with Margaret Thatcher. I think we did rather good.
-- John Lydon

#Sex #Thinking #Challenges

You'll find that empty vessels make the most sound.
-- John Lydon

#Sound #Empty #Vessel

You can't arrest me, I'm a rockstar.
-- John Lydon

#Rockstars

Punk is like looking at a mirror. I already have a mirror so I don't need the Offspring to remind me how gorgeous I am.
-- John Lydon

#Mirrors #Needs #Gorgeous

The sounds of anger are not melodic.
-- John Lydon

#Sound

Love is what you feel for a dog or a pussycat. It doesn't apply to humans.
-- John Lydon

#Love #Dog #Feels

If dolphins are so intelligent, how come they ain't got Walkmans?
-- John Lydon

#Intelligent #Dolphins #Fishes

[Replying to the question of the presenter: "where did the name "Sex Pistols" come from, who thought this name up?"] Some animal. I can't remember. It doesn't matter. It's history.
-- John Lydon

#Sex #Animal #Names

One of the most beautiful things about Britain, apart from the NHS and the free education, is the British Army.
-- John Lydon

#Beautiful #Army #Nhs