You see, idealism detached from action is just a dream. But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making the world bend a bit, is very exciting. It's very real. It's very strong.

Smack in the centre of contradiction is the place to be.

I have been working for Africans since I was 18, when I got involved with the Nelson Mandela concerts. I got involved with debt cancellation because Desmond Tutu demanded that the world respond to that situation.

Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to 400 million of the world's poorest people.

When those people get up at the Grammys and say, "I thank God", I always imagine God going, "Oh, don't, please don't thank me for that one. Please, oh, that's an awful one! Don't thank me for that - that's a piece of crap !"

Selling out is doing something you don't really want to do for money. That's what selling out is.

U2 was involved in Live Aid, and I ended up going to Ethiopia and working there for some time with my wife, Ali.