Boy George Quotes

Being in the Boy Scouts, you don't think about whether people are gay or straight. You're busy putting up tents and learning to cut sausages.

In writing the autobiography, I can really chuckle when I look at the songs. I was acting out the part. I saw myself as a victim.

I was about 16 when punk started to happen. It was so exciting. You had a social depression going on in the U.K. There was a sanitation strike. London was really grim, gray. You had Margaret Thatcher coming in. It was a really revolutionary time.

You're lucky if you reach the point where you go, "OK, I have a wonderful life ...I fly around the world, stay in beautiful places, people are generally quite sweet to me, what's to complain about?" But I think you have to get there... And it's taken me the best part of 54 years to reach that point where I'm like, "I'm very lucky, I'm lucky, I'm blessed" - all of those things. I wish I could impart that to other people but I think when you're young, you just don't listen.

What happened during the previews of 'Taboo' [musical] was that it was the first time I'd ever been written about as a great song-writer - I cried. I absolutely wept, because it wasn't the usual stuff like, "Oh, he was a drug addict and he did this and that..." It was really looking at the music and it was really complimentary. It was a huge thing.

Every freak has a mother. When I met Marilyn Manson I was struck by how nice he was. People are rarely as weird as you anticipate. Except for Courtney Love-who reminded me of that mad snake in The Jungle Book.

People say things about me all the time and I get over it. I've had some appalling things told about me.

I find that most people [in social media] just want me to say "happy birthday" to their mom or wish them good luck with their exams.

When I first went to New York, I didn't really go out to clubs. It was the height of Culture Club so I didn't really have a social life. It was only after I had been to New York a few times that I started going out.

I felt that making records in a traditional way - putting them out in the same way, wasting loads of money - was just a pointless exercise.

Certainly for me, when punk exploded in the 1970s, it was just great. We had these wonderful clothes to wear. We could do great things with our hair. We had protest badges that read "I belong to the Blank Generation." It was such a great time to be a kid.

I wear makeup and dress this way because I think it makes me look better. I am not doing it to get people to stare at me. If I wanted to do that I could just put a pot on my head, wear a wedding dress, and run screaming down the street.

I'm being honest, I say what I think.

My family knew I was gay when I was 15, long before I got famous. But it's a very different thing coming out to your family and coming out to the universe. That's a big step. Maybe without me, there wouldn't be Adam Lambert. Without Bowie, there wouldn't be me. Without Quentin Crisp, there wouldn't have been Bowie. So everything is part of a big daisy chain.

Someone once said a cynic is just a disappointed romantic. That really, really sums me up.

Most of my influences are from the past.

Voting for New Labour is like helping an old lady across the road while screaming 'Get a move on!' Even the Tories, who you could once rely on to be completely heartless are pretending to care.

The New Romantic scene was so tiny. Although it got lots of mileage in the media, it was a really small club with only a core group of people. As it got more popular, kids started to come from the suburbs all dressed up, but it -really wasn't as big as it looked.

Certain punk bands were influential because I thought, If they can do that then I can .Hanging around those bands was how I started my first band - In Praise of Lemmings.

I am what I am. There's nothing I can do about it.

I have the best job in the world. There's not really a lot to moan or whine about. I've got the privilege of going out and doing something I absolutely love.

What's really sad is that a lot of very talented people are being forced to do things that are very embarrassing and I don't intend to be one of them.

She's probably in denial that she's a great big ball of insecurity and I'm quite well aware that I am one.

A lot of Donna Summer and things that maybe weren't trendy anymore or weren't hip in gay clubs but you'd hear them at Taboo.

Leigh [Bowery] would create fake guest lists and put the most ridiculous names on them - Joan Collins, or really naff soap stars who would never grace the door of Taboo.

A lot of people felt I was getting work because I was Boy George. My response at the time was that there's a lot of DJs making records, they're not all making good records, but they have the right to do that.

For me the most interesting thing about Leigh Bowery was the way he used his body as a style statement. He was a big guy, but, because he was tall and had long legs, he looked in proportion - even sexy - despite being overweight by conventional standards.

I think we grow into ourselves. And unfortunately we do it in the spotlight, so when we make mistakes, everybody knows about it.

Leigh [Bowery] obviously loved having me in the club because I would attract media, and he loved and lived for his column inches.

You get the odd person [in social media] that will write something nasty and the trick is not to engage with them on any level.

A difficult crowd will always test your true ability.

I always feel that my whole life is representing the LGBT community. It's kind of what I do all the time.