Anything you throw yourself into, you better get yourself out of.

I'd been an expert at taking beatings. Then I had a lucky break where I did a bully in, by total sheer luck. ... One minute I was the mark, and with just one swift move, I put the big man in school down. ... Once he was down, the whole atmosphere in the schoolyard changed. A huge cloud seemed to be lifted from me. ... I'd never been aware the cloud was so large.

There's a demon in me, and he's still around. Without the dope, we have a bit more of a chat these days.

[joking about the length of the Rolling Stones' career] You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe - and you have the Rolling Stones!

One of the great things about songwrighting; it's not an intellectual experience

I only get ill when I give up drugs... I don't have a drug problem, I have a police problem.

It’s one thing to play a Muddy Waters song. It’s another thing to play with him.