Steven Morrissey Quotations

I'm fascinated by people in their eighties and nineties. Especially those who are still creating and living in an interesting way. I am fascinated by them because they have so much to say now that they've lived for so long.

Whether it be Beyonce or Justin Bieber, we see singers who have absolutely nothing to offer anyone as they walk off stage clutching three Grammys in each hand.

When you're younger, you see the people who are in power and think they must have that position because of some degree of skill. And as you get older, you realize it's not true, that most people in those positions are absolutely inept. And this naturally makes you feel better about yourself.

I have no love for myself as a human being, but I have immense pride in the music I make, and I believe it has an important place. Others do, too, and the thousands of people with Morrissey tattoos certainly proves something.

I'm capable of looking on the bright side. I just don't do it very often.

It's so tedious that everyone must be defined.

If anyone has seen the horrific and unwatchable footage of the Chinese cat and dog trade - animals skinned alive - then they could not possibly argue in favour of China as a caring nation. There are no animal protection laws in China, and this results in the worst animal abuse and cruelty on the planet. It is indefensible.

The monarchy is foremost a business, and it's important to them that the British public continue to finance the excessive luxurious lifestyles of the now quite enormous, wasteful and useless 'royal' family. I find it very sad.

Although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears.

The rhino is now more or less extinct, and it's not because of global warming or shrinking habitats. It's because of Beyonce's handbags.

Racism is beyond common sense and has no place in our society.

Age shouldn't affect you. It's just like the size of your shoes - they don't determine how you live your life! You're either marvellous or you're boring, regardless of your age.

As a very small child I found recorded noise and the solitary singer beneath the spotlight so dramatic and so brave... walking the plank... willingly... It was sink or swim. The very notion of standing there, alone, I found beautiful.

What's the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning? Wish I hadn't.

Women don't go to war to kill other women. Wars and armies and nuclear weapons are essentially heterosexual hobbies.

I don't want to go on much longer, really. I think that would suggest a lack of imagination. A certain lack of dignity also.

Each year of life brings us nearer to our decline, but I will continue to seek a listener until I'm dead in a ditch.

I do think it's possible to go through life and never fall in love, or find someone who loves you.

All of us, ultimately, we're not that interesting, when it comes down to it.

You have to, at least from a distance, look as if you know what you're doing, and I can manage that.

I do maintain that if your hair is wrong, your entire life is wrong.

The word 'indie' is meaningless now. It's so over-used that people think it simply means green hair.

I don't iron anything. Never have and never will.

You may not realize this, but people have the power to change the world.

I don't want to get too involved in marketing budgets, online promotions and download set-ups because it would be a bit like Gertrude Stein mapping out a TV campaign. I want to sing. I want visibility. I am essentially Al Martino, not Seymour Stein.

I have found the best way to avoid ending your life as a bitter wreck is to start out as one.

The fire in the belly is essential, otherwise you become Michael Buble - famous and meaningless.

Age gives you a great sense of proportion. You can be very hard on yourself when you're younger but now I just think 'well everybody's absolutely mad and I'm doing quite well'.

Any criticism of Thatcher throws a dangerously absurd light on the entire machinery of British politics. Thatcher's name must be protected, not because of all the wrong that she had done, but because the people around her allowed her to do it.

The Smiths was an incredibly personal thing to me. It was like launching your own diary to music.

No British politician has ever been more despised by the British people than Margaret Thatcher.

I first bought a Buffy Sainte-Marie record when I was 12, and her music has always remained with me. In the 1960s, as a political activist, Buffy's lyrics were fearless, and I'm very grateful for all the risks that she took.

If you love animals, obviously it doesn't make sense to hurt them.

When I'm lying in my bed I think about life and I think about death and neither one particularly appeals to me.

I'm not an anarchist, but I believe that people don't want the royal family - the so-called royal family.

That's why I do this music business thing, it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up.

Even though I've been reasonably well known for quite a long time, I still can't get a record on daytime radio or on MTV.

I always seem to be singing against the grain.

I think we were all initially swept along with the Obama win, but he's proven to be simply a set of teeth, and useless in every other regard.

Congratulations to Prince Charles for banning foie gras from all his functions.

Well, I'm a Catholic by birth and you can never shed it.

It could be construed that the reason I wouldn't wish to live in England is the immigration explosion. And that's not true at all.

I think the pop chart today is entirely market-driven. And it has nothing to do with public taste. And it has nothing to do with moving music forward. It's simply a market chart.

Not everybody is absolutely stupid. Why on earth would I be racist, what would I be trying to achieve?

Artists aren't really people. And I'm actually 40 per cent papier mache.

If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity.

The Royal family to me are not England, and they are not the flag.

I am unable to watch the Olympics due to the blustering jingoism that drenches the event. Has England ever been quite so foul with patriotism? The 'dazzling royals' have, quite naturally, hi-jacked the Olympics for their own empirical needs, and no oppositional voice is allowed in the free press.

The solo years have been more meaningful to the audiences than the Smiths years, but the press in England only write about me in relation to the Smiths era.

I've only been to Ireland once, and I felt I would wake up with voices in my head, almost like music, and that if I were a songwriter, I would be very inspired.

That was the problem with the 'celibate' word because they don't consider for a moment that you'd rather not be, but you just are. I was never a sexual person.

I find that it isn't wise to attempt to judge people on their public persona, and even on the music they make. Because I've met so many people whose music I cannot stand, and they're very nice. At the same time, I've met people whose music I've loved, and they're not the person you've invested all this emotion in.

My family, although they're very large on both my parents' sides, they don't know much about their family tree. Occasionally, they try to dig, but they can't get very far, and it's baffling. In Dublin, it seems that so many public records were wiped out; it's proven to be very difficult, so I know very little.

Those Catholics, they really nab you when you're young.

I don't even know if I exist offstage.

I never imagined I'd be a solo artist. And now I couldn't imagine being part of a group.

I didn't really see the British punk movement, if that's what it was, as wildly original, because I had been listening so intently to all the New York music since 1973, really.

My parents were worried about me, certainly when I became so deeply interested in music and people like the New York Dolls who, at the time, were very peculiar indeed.

War, I thought, was the most negative aspect of male heterosexuality. If more men were homosexual, there would be no wars, because homosexual men would never kill other men, whereas heterosexual men love killing other men.

I began to go to concerts when I was 12 years old.

I think I'm a realist. Which people who don't like me consider to be pessimism. It isn't pessimism at all. If I was a pessimist I wouldn't get up, I wouldn't shave, I wouldn't watch Batman at 7:30 a.m. Pessimists just don't do that sort of thing.

I left my fingerprints somewhere - that's good enough. I am my own person - that's good enough. I stand my ground - that's good enough.

I normally live in Los Angeles, if you can call it normal living.

With the world's fate resting on your shoulder - you're gonna need someone on your side. You can't do it by yourself any longer - you're gonna need someone on your side.

He referred to me as an 'insufferable puffed-up prat'. This is a bit rich coming from a man who actually married his own mother.

It's so easy to laugh It's so easy to hate It takes guts to be gentle and kind

The Smiths are never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to reunite - ever.

Long hair is an unpardonable offense which should be punishable by death.

Smiths songs certainly have an astonishing afterlife.

I've never intended to be controversial but it's very easy to be controversial in pop music because nobody ever is.

People like me prove that you can survive without romance, even though you end up a bit unbalanced and you tend to argue with your own reflection.

I wear black on the outside, because black is how I feel on the inside.

It begins in the heart...and it hurts when it's true. It only hurts because it's true.

One day I decided to try to have a complete day without tea. I was quite shaken. I was quite disturbed.

I was never young. This idea of fun: cars, girls, saturday night, bottle of wine... to me, these things are morbid. I was always attracted to people with the same problems as me. It doesn't help when most of them are dead.

I can smell burning flesh... and I hope to God it's human.

Animals are nicer than humans and they're conscious beings. If you stick your grandmother in an oven, she will probably be tasty. But is that any reason to eat your grandmother?

Now this might disturb you, but I find I'm OK by myself; and I don't need you or your benevolence to make sense.

Tried living in the real world instead of a shell, but I was bored before I even began.

And if you ever need self-validation, Just meet me in the alley by the railway station

The more you ignore me, the closer I get; you're wasting your time.

Jesus made me, so he should save me from pity, sympathy and idiots discussing me.

I'm cursed with the gift of foresight.

Don't talk to me about people who are 'nice' cause I have spent my whole life in ruins because of people who are 'nice'.

In my life why do I smile at people I'd rather kick in the eye?

Even I, as sick as I am, I would never be you. Even I, sick and depraved, a traveler to the grave, I would never be you.

I would rather eat my own testicles than reform The Smiths, and that's saying something for a vegetarian.

Everyday is like Sunday Everyday is silent and grey

Well, I am an extremely beautiful person.

Whoever says The Smiths have split shall be severely spanked by me with a wet plimsoll.

I once bought a Manchester United hat, which I think was 12 shillings, and somebody ran up behind me and pulled it off and just ran ahead. I thought, 'It's a very cruel world, I'm not prepared for this'. And I decided to get my revenge on society.

I hated the royal wedding.

I still prefer horses to human beings.

I avoid people who I actually like. I suppose that’s a phobia but also a habit.

I have an unswayable obsession with death. If there was a magical pill that one could take that would retire you from the world, I would take it.

Most people keep their brains between their legs

There are some bad people on the rise; they're saving their own skins by ruining people's lives.

I think labels for the most part want to sign new discoveries so that that label alone is seen to be responsible for the rise of the artist. Not many labels want bands who have already made their mark, because their success is usually attributed to some other label somewhere else at another time.

I called to wish you an unhappy birthday because you're evil and you lie and if you should die I may feel slightly sad, but I won't cry.

The passing of time and all of its crimes is making me sad again. The passing of time and all of its sickening crimes is making me sad again. But don't forget the songs that made you cry and the songs that saved your life.. Yes, you're older now and you're a clever swine. But they were the only ones who ever stood by you