John Lydon Quotes

Let's face it, I ain't ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything.

It's a repressive society where you can't be horrible, I'm not horrible, they made me horrible, I'm just honest.

I'm not this callous clown walking around laughing at life all the time. I've had some serious, serious problems in my life. But I've come out with a smile.

Don't accept the old order. Get rid of it.

Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a staircase, can somehow capture an emotion much better.

I find Lady Gaga hilarious. And I kind of like her. My heart's warmed to her.

I'd rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.

I love consumerism, TV culture, shopping malls. There's nothing I'd ever buy, but I like being there. It's wacky.

My entire life, socially, was all around the Maggie era. That was the great challenge as a Sex Pistol was how to deal with Margaret Thatcher. I think we did rather good.

I love Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart because they're bringing irony back into American humor, which is a delicious treat. The entire Colbert persona of being extreme right-wing when he's not at all is highly amusing. He does it so well, but sometimes a little too well. My wife is convinced he's completely that way.

I'm not able to tell you what the best song is yet, because there's more to come. I feel that in me. I can still feel the burning energy and the desire to create and create and create.

Pop music I have always loved best. But the more extreme, fascist-led examples of the music business I tend to detest the most.

I've always despised the hippies.

There are some Rolling Stones songs that are just stunners.

I love books, and all the best ones are people analysing their own emotions. You can learn from that.

Me, as a human, I never want to take away another human being's choices or lifestyles or anything.

I've been asked over the years to compile a list of desert-island discs. I couldn't do that. If I was trapped on a desert island, I don't think I'd want 10 songs to bring with me.

Only the fakes survive.

If my leg falls off, I'll get a prosthetic. There'd be no deep sadness about. I'd just get on with it! It's called life, and I love life. You have to be positive, and you have to crack on no matter what.

For a gun-toting nation, Americans are surprisingly passive.

I like America's diversity and its landscapes.

I'm no one's lap dog, you can't put me on a leash.

The day I run out of ideas is the day I stop making records.

It's nice to be irritated. It's a very joyous thing.

Destroy everything. That's all well and fine, but you got to offer something in it's place. Since I always have a point and purpose to what I do, thats why people accuse me of being calculated. it's the way I am. I always know my next move. I could never conjure up a death wish, this is all I have is life. I don't know what comes next, and frankly I'm in no rush to find out. I don't believe in playing a martyr just for the sheer hell of it. And for something as chidish as Rock 'N' Roll is not on.

Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they're trying to relay to you.

Occasionally, a re-enactment is a fine thing. I love Civil War re-enactments.

The greatest achievement of my life is enduring a disease that nearly killed me. I came out of it a better person. It's my one great accomplishment - more so than anything else I've done.

Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they're treated.

I don't believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free.

I don't have any expensive habits. I'm not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I'd love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.

I've done no harm to no one. In fact, I think I've improved the world.

You're made to feel ugly, and I made ugly beautiful. Just by sheer persistence. Nobody has the right to say that I am ugly, and I will not be a professional victim, you know. Sorry!

Michael Jackson plays the wounded puppy very well. 'I must be the loneliest man in the world'. Well, you're not a man. And the loneliness is self inflicted, so sod off you pathetic puerile pimp. I wonder what color his willy is.

I have one major problem with the internet: It's full of liars. There doesn't seem to be any way to answer to people lying about you.

I love being alive so much. When you come out of comas in your childhood, every moment awake is a joyous occasion.

Situationism is a ludicrous proposition. It's ill-formed and it's perfectly French. That Gallic disposition towards common sense. L'Anarchie!

Records were vitally important to the development of music and of all music cultures. With that being pushed by the wayside, I can't see an iPod uniting us. In fact it separates us, the streets are full of people bumping into lamp posts, listening to their own little universe, and there's no sharing in that.

Anybody who says, "Look, John, I'm a politician. Don't believe a word I say," is a friend of mine.

Books are like my one and only joy.

I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song.

I went to visit Alcatraz years ago when I was on tour with the Pistols, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place. I genuinely, really, thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning there. I just liked the quietness and stillness of what is basically a cruel prison complex. I still found some kind of joy in that. That's how I am.

Americans being upright and forthright and honest and true to themselves is a very hard concept.

Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.

I come from the school of do it yourself mate. Unfortunately over the years there's been quite a few of, "Can you do it for us Johnny, so we can grab all your glory?".

Turn the other cheek too often and you get a razor through it.

Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That's living!

You'll find that empty vessels make the most sound.