Joe Strummer Quotes

I have a weird life because I live on songwriting royalties, which are a strange income. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't. ... I want to grow up with my audience. I don't expect to be getting through to the younger pop crowd. I learned that from Paul Simon. ... When you blame yourself, you learn from it. If you blame someone else, you don't learn nothing, cause hey, it's not your fault, it's his fault, over there. ... People have told me songs I've written have changed their life. That's remarkable. That keeps your faith.

I`m kind of like one of those people that picks up small and interesting bits of wood and doesn`t want to let go of them. Or, you know, I`m fascinated with the wrapper on a sardine can. A little cuckoo.

I don't have any other message than don't forget you are alive

For me the music is a vehicle for my lyrics. It's a chance to get some really good words across.

Authority is supposedly grounded in wisdom, but I could see from a very early age that authority was only a system of control and it didn't have any inherent wisdom. I quickly realised that you either became a power or you were crushed

I want to grow up with my audience. I don't expect to be getting through to the younger pop crowd. I learned that from Paul Simon.

The future is unwritten.

If I had five million pounds I'd start a radio station because something needs to be done. It would be nice to turn on the radio and hear something that didn't make you feel like smashing up the kitchen and strangling the cat.

The way you get a better world is, you don't put up with substandard anything.

What's holding me up is I'm confused about the nature of the music. Because the modern music doesn't reach me. I mean to say the sound of the modern electric production. A lot of sequencers... synths. That's what people are buying. Because that doesn't reach me, it throws me back to like 1948, but I don't want to be there. Back there, I'm talking about blues records... The roots of rock'n'roll is rhythm and blues and that's like really where I'm at, where I was always at.

I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all.

I learnt that fame is an illusion and everything about it is just a joke. I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all.

If you ain't thinkin about man and God and law, then you ain't thinkin about nothin'.

We`re all going to have to learn to live together and develop a greater tolerance and get rid off whatever our fathers gave us in the way of hatred between nations.

Anybody who makes speeches written by someone else is just a robot.

We aren't particularly talented. We try harder!

I'd like to say that people... people can change anything they want to; and that means everything in the world. Show me any country and there'll be people in it. And it's the people that make the country. People have got to stop pretending they're not on the world... It's time to take that humanity back into the center of the ring and follow that for a time... Think on that. Without people you're nothing.

The only place I considered home was the boarding school, in Yorkshire, my parents sent me to.

I just want to go back to rockin', but I'm uncertain as to what to actually do. The truth is, I never stopped thinking about rock'n'roll for a second that I'm on holiday.

All hippies around now just represent complete apathy.

A lot of people... use a calculator!

A lot of the time I'm semi-insane, but there is a slight bit of intelligence there.

Yeah, all those things, responsibility, pressure. It's a bit stressful. I try and come to terms with it by not thinking about it.

When you blame yourself, you learn from it. If you blame someone else, you don't learn nothing, cause hey, it's not your fault, it's his fault, over there.

Everyone has got to realise you can't hold onto the past if you want any future. Each second should lead to the next one.

There isn't a town in the world I haven't run amok in.

Don't write slogans, write truths.

I like to read because it's the opposite of being on the go. Reading is the perfect antidote.

People can change anything they want to, and that means everything in the world.

It is fun to be alive. It's a hell of a lot better than being dead.

The hippy movement was a failure.

To me our music is like Jamaican stuff - if they can't hear it, they're not supposed to hear it. It's not for them if they can't understand it.

If you're allowed to make your mistakes, I think you should. But people don't really like hearing you admit them. Although I'd never wanted to dump on the musicians that were involved in that... Because it was not their fault.

All the power's in the hands of people rich enough to buy it.

My motto is, 'What's the hurry?' I'm trying to get it across to the modern world that we need to sit around and think a little bit more.

The toughest thing is facing yourself. Being honest with yourself, that's much tougher than beating someone up. That's what I call tough.

Strummer's Law: No input, no output.

Punk rock isn't something you grow out of Punk rock is an attitude, and the essence of that attitude is 'give us some truth'

I think we're going to have to forget about the radio and just go back to word of mouth.

I have a weird life because I live on songwriting royalties, which are a strange income. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't.

I began thinking there should be an American phrase book, 'cause I've got an Italian phrase book, and an Arabic one... now a British one. I think it'd be pretty good to have an American phrase book.

Don't forget you're alive. 'Cause sometimes when you walk around the city and you're in a bad mood, you can think, hey, wait a minute, we're alive! We don't know what the next second will bring and what a fantastic thing this is. This can get easily forgotten in the routine of life, and that's something I'm trying to bring to my attention at all times. Don't forget you're alive. We're not dead, you know. This is the greatest thing.

Greed, it ain't going anywhere. They should have that in a big billboard across Times Square. Without people you're nothing.

everybody has a story to tell

When I started, they told me I only needed 3 chords and the truth... It turned out I could manage with 2 and some vague ideas.

In fact, punk rock means exemplary manners to your fellow human beings.

You've gotta be slightly stupid.

When you're out to get the honey you don't go killing all the bees