U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don't really know what we're doing and when we do,...
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U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don't really know what we're doing and when we do, it doesn't seem to help.
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On visiting the White House: I'd like to think that I've always left the White House with more than ...
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On visiting the White House: I'd like to think that I've always left the White House with more than I arrived. Not only budget commitments, cutlery, silverware, candelabras, one or two Bush family photos... OK, one Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington - it was in the bathroom, nobody could see-- I'll give it back.
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I hate the idea of being in the UK Hall of Fame to be honest with you. We don't want to be in any Ha...
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I hate the idea of being in the UK Hall of Fame to be honest with you. We don't want to be in any Hall of Fame until we're retired or dead.
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The problem with voting is no matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.
The problem with voting is no matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.
[on creativity] If you were of sound mind, you wouldn't need 70K people a night screaming 'I love yo...
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[on creativity] If you were of sound mind, you wouldn't need 70K people a night screaming 'I love you'.
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The stage is but a platform shoe.
The stage is but a platform shoe.
I had one of the worst haircuts in the '80s. I know that it launched a million second-division socce...
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I had one of the worst haircuts in the '80s. I know that it launched a million second-division soccer players. But the truth of it, if I'm really honest, is that I thought I looked like David Bowie.
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I could go onstage, unzip my pants, and hang my dick out, and people would think it was a statement ...
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I could go onstage, unzip my pants, and hang my dick out, and people would think it was a statement about something.
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[on Third World aid] The Irish people are amazing. What's so incredible about the Irish people is th...
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[on Third World aid] The Irish people are amazing. What's so incredible about the Irish people is that if you poll them -- I think it's over 62 per cent -- even though they are hurting and there's a lot of pain in the country, they don't want to cut the aid budget. That just humbles me.
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Never trust a man who tells you it's from the heart, never trust a man smoking a cigar, never trust ...
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Never trust a man who tells you it's from the heart, never trust a man smoking a cigar, never trust a cowboy or a man who wears shades...
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[on Elton John] He's the King and Queen of England.
[on Elton John] He's the King and Queen of England.
As a teenager, Bowie (David Bowie) was our Elvis (Elvis Presley). They shared the same birthday and ...
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As a teenager, Bowie (David Bowie) was our Elvis (Elvis Presley). They shared the same birthday and they both took music somewhere no one thought it could go. It was his other-worldliness that took us all away.
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[on Bob Geldof and "Do They Know It's Christmas?"] I thought he was ringing up to say, "I like your ...
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[on Bob Geldof and "Do They Know It's Christmas?"] I thought he was ringing up to say, "I like your album", but no, he told me the album was shite but despite that fact would I like to be part of his song?
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We're delighted, of course, that people are owning up to being U2 fans.
We're delighted, of course, that people are owning up to being U2 fans.
[Hot Press, March 2000] Marriage is this grand madness, and I think if people knew that, they would ...
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[Hot Press, March 2000] Marriage is this grand madness, and I think if people knew that, they would perhaps take it more seriously. The reason why there's operas and novels and pop tunes written about love is because it's such an extraordinary thing, not because it's commonplace, and yet that's what you're told, you grow up with this idea that it's the norm.
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On wearing his trademark sunglasses: Without them, I'm an amorphous mass.
On wearing his trademark sunglasses: Without them, I'm an amorphous mass.
The world is more malleable than you think. We can bend it into a better shape. Ask big questions, d...
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The world is more malleable than you think. We can bend it into a better shape. Ask big questions, demand big answers.
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[on Apple designer Jonathan Ive] Jony Ive is himself classic Apple. Brushed steel, polished glass ha...
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[on Apple designer Jonathan Ive] Jony Ive is himself classic Apple. Brushed steel, polished glass hardware, complicated software honed to simplicity. His genius is not just his ability to see what others cannot, but also how he applies it. To watch him with his workmates in the holy of holies, Apple's design lab, or on a night out, is to observe a very rare esprit de corps. They love their boss and he loves them. What the competitors don't seem to understand is you cannot get people this smart to work this hard just for money. Joni is Obi-Wan.
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This whole concept of celebrating the millennium, the whole concept of celebrating a particular minu...
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This whole concept of celebrating the millennium, the whole concept of celebrating a particular minute in time, what is it? What's it all about? It's bollocks, isn't it? It is.
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[on receiving an honorary British knighthood] You have permission to call me anything you want - exc...
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[on receiving an honorary British knighthood] You have permission to call me anything you want - except sir, all right? Lord of lords, your demigodness, that'll do.
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[about The Edge] He's an owl!
[about The Edge] He's an owl!
[in 1987] Everyone argues, then we do what I say.
[in 1987] Everyone argues, then we do what I say.
I know sometimes you shouldn't judge your audience by the fans you meet, especially if they're in a ...
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I know sometimes you shouldn't judge your audience by the fans you meet, especially if they're in a flowerbed in your garden at home but U2 fans are different, they're very humane.
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I'm representing the poorest and the most vulnerable people. I'm throwing a punch, and the fist belo...
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I'm representing the poorest and the most vulnerable people. I'm throwing a punch, and the fist belongs to people who can't be in the room, whose rage, whose anger, whose hurt I represent.
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Look, I'm sick of Bono and I AM Bono.
Look, I'm sick of Bono and I AM Bono.
When I write, it's there. There's no staring at a blank page.
When I write, it's there. There's no staring at a blank page.
What about this idea of liberty? Not liberty for its own sake, but liberty for some larger end - not...
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What about this idea of liberty? Not liberty for its own sake, but liberty for some larger end - not just freedom from oppression, but freedom of expression and worship. Freedom from want, and freedom from fear because when you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grow, you are not free. When you are dying of a mosquito bite for lack of a bed net, you are not free. When you are hungry in a world of plenty, you are not free. And when you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace, it is an affront to the thug regime, well then none of us are truly free.
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I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music and that's what makes them extraordinary.
I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music and that's what makes them extraordinary.
[talking about The Edge] And that's not always a given - that he would want to play guitar. He might...
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[talking about The Edge] And that's not always a given - that he would want to play guitar. He might be into keyboards this album, and you have Larry and Adam going "oh fuck, he's into the keyboards now. We'll never get a rock song out of him".
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[on Live Aid (1985)] That day changed my life and started me on this incredible adventure, that is t...
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[on Live Aid (1985)] That day changed my life and started me on this incredible adventure, that is the possibility that our generation could be remembered for something other than the Internet ... the first generation to eradicate extreme poverty ... I want to spend the rest of my life doing that, the band mouth off and complain, but they support me.
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[on criticisms of tax avoidance made against U2] We pay millions and millions of dollars in tax. The...
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[on criticisms of tax avoidance made against U2] We pay millions and millions of dollars in tax. The thing that stung us was the accusation of hypocrisy for my work as an activist. I can understand how people outside the country wouldn't understand how Ireland got to its prosperity but everybody in Ireland knows that there are some very clever people in the Government and in the Revenue who created a financial architecture that prospered the entire nation. It was a way of attracting people to this country who wouldn't normally do business here and the financial services brought billions of dollars every year directly to the Exchequer. What's actually hypocritical is the idea that then you don't use a financial services center in Holland. The real question people need to ask about Ireland's tax policy is: 'Was the nation a net gain benefactor?' and of course it was - hugely so. So there was no hypocrisy for me. We're just part of a system that has benefited the nation greatly and that's a system that will be closed down in time. Ireland will have to find other ways of being competitive and attractive.
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[on Elvis Presley] Elvis' music has been my greatest inspiration.
[on Elvis Presley] Elvis' music has been my greatest inspiration.
It would be wrong for me to say, 'Yes, we can change the world with a song.' But every time I try wr...
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It would be wrong for me to say, 'Yes, we can change the world with a song.' But every time I try writing, that's where I'm at. I'm not stupid. I'm aware of the futility of rock & roll music, but I'm also aware of its power.
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We were like the bastard children of The Clash who actually believed that music could change the wor...
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We were like the bastard children of The Clash who actually believed that music could change the world.
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More than anyone, it was Mandela who rebooted the idea of Africa from a continent in chaos to a much...
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More than anyone, it was Mandela who rebooted the idea of Africa from a continent in chaos to a much more romantic view, one in keeping with the majesty of the landscape and the nobility of even its poorest inhabitants. He was also a hardheaded realist, as his economic policy demonstrated. To him, principles and pragmatism were not foes; they went hand-in-hand. He was an idealist without naiveté, a compromiser without being compromised.
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I'm the Fidel Castro of speechifying. We've got a few hours, don't we?
I'm the Fidel Castro of speechifying. We've got a few hours, don't we?
Nelson Mandela had humor and humility in his bearing, and he was smarter and funnier than the parade...
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Nelson Mandela had humor and humility in his bearing, and he was smarter and funnier than the parade of world leaders who flocked to see him.. He could charm the birds off the trees - and the cash right out of wallets.. Mandela lived a life without sanctimony. you try it; it's not easy.. Laughter, not tears was Mandiba's preferred way. One of his cellmates told me that price Mandela paid for working in the limestone mine was not bitterness or even the blindness that can result from being around the bright white reflection day after day. Mandela could see, but the dust damage to his tear ducts had left him unable to cry. For all this man's farsightedness and vision, he could not produce tears in a moment of self-doubt or grief.
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[on Bill Clinton] He is by far the most beloved American since JFK for all of us Irish.
[on Bill Clinton] He is by far the most beloved American since JFK for all of us Irish.
[on financial accountability in the entertainment world] The real enemy is not between digital downl...
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[on financial accountability in the entertainment world] The real enemy is not between digital downloads or streaming, the real fight is between opacity and transparency. The music business has historically involved itself in quite considerable deceit.
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As an activist, I have pretty much been doing what Nelson Mandela tells me since I was a teenager. H...
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As an activist, I have pretty much been doing what Nelson Mandela tells me since I was a teenager. He has been a forceful presence in my life, going back to 1979 when U2 made its first anti apartheid effort. And he's been a big part of the Irish consciousness even longer than that. Irish people related all too easily to the subjugation of ethnic minorities. From our point-of-view, the question as to how bloody South Africa would have to get on its long road to freedom was not abstract.
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Brian Wilson believes in angels. I do too and you only have to listen to the string arrangement of '...
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Brian Wilson believes in angels. I do too and you only have to listen to the string arrangement of 'God Only Knows' for fact and proof of angels.
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I represent a lot of people [in Africa] who have no voice at all... They haven't asked me to represe...
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I represent a lot of people [in Africa] who have no voice at all... They haven't asked me to represent them. It's cheeky but I hope they're glad I do.
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[on his paintings] I love art too much to call these anything other than marks on paper.
[on his paintings] I love art too much to call these anything other than marks on paper.
It costs a fortune to look this trashy.
It costs a fortune to look this trashy.
Pop music has dated much better than a lot of rock music.
Pop music has dated much better than a lot of rock music.
[on meeting Freddie Mercury at Live Aid] So when Freddie Mercury comes up to me, he goes, "Hello. Mm...
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[on meeting Freddie Mercury at Live Aid] So when Freddie Mercury comes up to me, he goes, "Hello. Mmmmm. We've all agreed that we like you." And I went, "Oh?" And he had me up against a wall and Freddie was being really playful with me. And I walked off and I went, "He's really very camp, isn't he?" Somebody said, "Queen?"
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[recalling his late father's influence] Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to an...
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[recalling his late father's influence] Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to anything is what has made me the megalomaniac that you see today.
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Great music is written by people who are either running toward or away from God.
Great music is written by people who are either running toward or away from God.
