Billy Corgan Quotes

People try to make a big deal, like I don't want to play my old songs. That's not it. I don't want to play my old songs if that's my only option. That's a different thing.

Destruction is a true sign of devotion. As I always tell my girlfriend when she threatens to kill me. 'You should kill me and it would tell me that you love me.

That's the great thing about rock n' roll: the myth is ultimately more important than the reality. And that's what you learn - you just learn to go with the mythology.

Most people are living lives of sort of survival. And constantly posing an existential crisis, either through fantasy or oblivion, really has been pretty much explored in rock and roll. At least in the western version of rock n' roll.

The closer I get back to being who I really am, the stronger the music gets.

Your basic person wants to talk about material culture, internet culture. I think about God, cats, nature.

Heavy metal is a universal energy -- it's the sound of a volcano. It's rock, it's earth shattering. Somewhere in our primal being we understand.

Jesus teaches us to forgive and I've got to trust him on that one.

I've thought many times, 'I can't write this,' but on my own little planet I found the courage to write it because it was true. I put aside fear of Father being angry with me. It's hard though; the world pales in comparison with the stature of a parent. In some small-consolation way, my parents feel I'm helping people by giving them something to identify with. They feel proud in a sort of reverse way. My mom's proud of the fact that lots of kids look up to me.

At some point, you protest too much they think you're guilty just because you're protesting.

If you've sold over a million records, you are not punk rock, you are milking the system for everything that it's worth.

If you don't have some sort of belief system by which to center your life, it's hard sometimes to understand why you would put up with your family.

There's a lot of days where you feel forgotten.

Billy [Corgan] and I used to spend quite a lot of time together in Los Angeles, when I first moved there.

I hate how in magazine pictures, they always stick me somewhere in the back. It means they don't think I'm the cute one.

Fur is a contentious issue. Meat is a contentious issue. GMOs are a contentious issue. I think this whole thing going on about whether or not products should be labeled if they have GMOs in them - I, as a consumer, would like to know if I'm eating GMO food. If I choose to buy it then it's my choice.

I'm viewed as this weird, crippled character. But you got to take your lumps.

We had a wonderful time with this kind of grunge awareness, where suddenly rock was cool again. People wanted to head loud guitars. It was a great time, and I'm glad we were there. But the gimmick part has worn off.

I always thought Kurt Cobain was the perfect embodiment of the great alternative guitar player.

I'm very disappointed in my country right now, because I think we've kind of lost our moral compass.

My mother and I parting company at four years old is a recurring theme; although it's not symbolically necessarily present, it's present in all my relationships.

Well, we have brought certain things upon ourselves. I've certainly brought things upon us with my mouth.

I didn't find Jesus. He's been there the whole time.

My father was a guitar player, and I was raised with a super high standard of what good guitar playing was.

As a 28 year old who's lived long enough to know the difference, I know now that the feelings I felt an 16 were not necessarily correct. But however overly dramatic, the desperation and hopelessness I felt at 16 was my reality.

I mean there's certainly a lot of progressive rock and metal that exists at the underground level, which has its own vitality, as it should. But it seems to have lost its ability to really charge up the hill.

Beware of those angels with their wings glued on.

Do I belong in the conversation about the best artists in the world? My answer is yes, I do.

You've got to be ready to be in a great relationship.

Indie world won't have me, and mainstream world treats me like an alien, but here I am still floating between these two worlds.

I don't have a problem with 'Idol' or 'X Factor,' I have a problem with when those things are not given the proper contextual hue.

If I had spent fourteen months in a small room with Jesus, I'd want to fist fight with him.

Don't judge yourself by someone else's standards. You will always lose

I'm not interested in pop art.

In my particular instance, I came from a family that didn't have anything. Everything I earned in life I made. Myself. With songs that I wrote.

I usually wake up far after breakfast. That's as much as you're going to find out about my dietary requirements other than marijuana and vodka.

I'd reached a point where there was a direct conflict between what I was trying to be and who I really was.

There's been someone up here screaming 'Landslide' for the whole show... Normally we don't play 'Landslide,' but on occasion we've been known to play it... So since this person's been screaming it all show long... That just about kills the chances of me playing it tonight, or ever again.

I don't wanna play this kind of cartoon character anymore.

I'm Irish and I was born on St. Patrick's Day. I'm lucky sevens.

I do not trust those who make the vaccines, or the apparatus behind it all to push it on us thru fear.

The point is to let the music be itself. If it doesn't mean anything to you, then it's bullsh*t.

I think rock & roll has prepared me for a lot of flexibility.

Life is everything and nothing all at once.

Most people don't know that wrestling came out of the circus.

Say you write a song about a chandelier, and the chandelier gives off light. And the light is the color red and red reminds you of the color your not supposed to wear around a bull. So you name the song 'Cow.'

The difficulty, if you're in the world - and this is for anybody - is the eventual disappointment that comes with having to meet other versions of reality. Imposed systems that ask you to compromise or sacrifice things which you consider holy or sacred.

You will never see the four original Pumpkins on stage ever again, unless it's a Hall of Fame thing. But you would never see a tour. There's so much damage, there's no way.