Everybody starts by imitating their heroes. For me it was Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters.

I'm an unpure purist, something like that.

We age not by holding on to youth, but by letting ourselves grow and embracing whatever youthful parts remain.

It made me sick - my name's Keith Richards. It hardly makes it against Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters, does it? On my first guitar I had Boy Blue written - just pathetic. But that was as good as I got at the time.

You're sitting with some guys, and you're playing and you go, "Ooh, yeah!" That feeling is worth more than anything. There's a certain moment when you realize that you've actually just left the planet for a bit and that nobody can touch you. You're elevated because you're with a bunch of guys that want to do the same thing as you. And when it works, baby, you've got wings. You know you've been somewhere most people will never get; you've been to a special place.

If you've gotta think about being cool, you ain't cool.

Some people think I'm a mythical genius, others think I'm a junkie madman.