Sinead O'Connor Quotes

I think there's a difference between God and religion.

There is a God. God exists.

Maybe it was mean, but I really don't think so. You asked for the truth and I told you.

When I grew up in Ireland in the seventies there was no such thing as therapy...I mean we didn't even have cappuccinos until 1998! So for me music was therapy, it was also the place where one could speak about himself, where he was allowed to speak about his traumatic experiences.

I think people think they're not brave if they're frightened, and that's not true at all.

I have no shame around the fact that I can be shot into suicidal feelings by certain people's treatment of me. I am no different to any other person, I therefore act as I believe any other person should be free to.

I think there's a lot that's beautiful about religion and very inspiring, obviously, but I do think that God needs to be rescued from religion actually.

I really believe that God and religion is two different things.

Forgiveness is the most important thing. We all have to forgive what was done to us - the Irish people have to forgive. The African people. The Jewish people. We all have to forgive and understand the only way to stop the cycle of hate and abuse is not to allow yourself to get caught in it.

You also said in Rolling Stone that your look is based on mine. The look I chose, I chose on purpose at a time when my record company were encouraging me to do what you have done. I felt I would rather be judged on my talent and not my looks. I am happy that I made that choice, not least because I do not find myself on the proverbial rag heap now that I am almost 47 yrs of age.. which unfortunately many female artists who have based their image around their sexuality, end up on when they reach middle age.

It was the case in the 70s and 80s that people believed music could change the world. But now people aren't making music because they want to change the world; they're making music because they want to just make a ton of money.

The important thing about "brave" is, it doesn't mean you're not terrified.

Until everyone in this country over 35 has passed away, the theocracy will still be alive. And I am not actually of the theocracy, and that could bother people. I think I've probably taken a bit of flak for that, as well as being an arsehole occasionally, obviously.

God needs to get rescued from religious music.

If you were the boss of a company and some of the employees of your company were known to sexually abuse children, you would fire them instantly.

Protection of children from violence and abuse has always been my main activity or campaign.

I don't agree with this romantic fantasy that people who suffer from depression are more likely to be artists. I find that I am more creative when I am happy actually.

I only feel better because people aren't being so abusive to me about my weight.

I think "God" is an off-putting word. I don't think there's a name for this. I think it's a presence that is best for us, but unfortunately, it can't intervene if we don't ask it, and religion has us talking to the wall because the god that religion is selling isn't the reality.

When I kissed you, you didn't mind. I thought I tasted of too many cigarettes, but you tasted like wine.

I guess I'm a Holy Spirit maniac. I'm not a religious maniac. I love religion, but I don't like it.

The music business is a place where the artists are all treated like we're working for the people who are working for us. That can obviously be exaggerated when you're a female.

I feel that I was a useful contributor to society, and that I couldn't be a contributor to society in any other way.

I think that music has been a great help to me and this has been confirmed by every psychiatrist I have seen. I would probably be dead if not for music.

Minors should not be exposed to what is going on in the so-called news.

Look at all our old men in pubs. Look at all our young people on drugs.

They're my positive chaos, my children.

I suppose in some ways, all over the world "crazy" is a term of abuse and I think that is something that should be stopped. In Ireland "crazy" is a term of abuse and people are terrified of anything that they conceive to be crazy. And the people believed to be crazy won't be treated compassionately, they will treat you horribly and use it as a reason to dismiss anything you would think, do, say or feel, so you're rocking into a self esteem trap.

I understand that we are actually complicated people but we are also dreadfully simple.

What I'm interested in is the protection of children from violence, and they are exposed to violence every single day in the form of, as it's called, the news. Then you wonder why the children are running around, doing the things in the streets, doing the things that they've seen the adults doing in the so-called news.

I think people who come from abuse and/or people who have mental illnesses, have terrible self-esteem problems.

The irony is that musical artists have enormous public voices, but behind the scenes we're voiceless, actually.

To say what you feel is to dig your own grave.

As long as the house of The Holy Spirit remains a haven for criminals the reputation of the church will remain in ruins.

I find that as a female boss in the music industry, it's difficult to actually be treated as if you actually are the boss and to have people act on your instructions and take you seriously. Like you call up people who are working for you and say, "I'd like to see such-and-such document," and they tell you that you don't need it. Then you have to spend time convincing them that it doesn't matter whether they think you need it or not, they're supposed to hand it to you.

Generally I don't listen to sad songs if I'm sad. I listen to happy songs.

The sexuality is being sold to the artists as power when in fact it's not; it's a way of hypnotizing their audience.

I've been married three times, really I should only have been married once.

When you have mental illness you don't have a plaster or a cast or a crutch, that let everyone know that you have the illness, so people expect the same of you as from anyone else and when you are different they give you a hard time and they think you're being difficult or they think you're being a pain in the ass and they're horrible to you. You spend your life in Ireland trying to hide that you have a mental illness.

I don't feel like me unless I have my hair shaved. So even when I'm an old lady, I'm going to have it.

My creative process is quite slow. I hear melodies in my head while I'm washing the dishes and I allow my subconscious to do the work.

Every pore of you is crying and you don't even understand why or what. I actually kind of died and got born again as a result of taking the meds and having a chance to, you know, build a life.

If you really ever love someone, that doesn't go away, although you wish it would.

There's a difference between, you know, God loves unconditionally in my feeling and religion loves conditionally. Religion spends an awful lot of time dictating who God can love and can't love.

I'm a Holy Spirit maniac, yeah. When I say maniac, to me, a maniac is a person that goes around telling you what you should believe. You know, you have to believe what I believe, and I don't believe that.

You can't have a church run by people who don't believe in God.

I h a v e a l l t h a t I r e q u e s t e d and I do not want what I haven`t got. I have learned this from my mother ; see how happy she has made me. I will take this road much further though I know not where it takes me.

I was getting a lot of pressure from people in show business about my being overweight because of medication, I was on 200 mg of amitriptiline. When I said this to my doctor, for some reason she took me completely off medication and she didn't really supervise properly.