First love is alright, as far as it goes. Last love – that’s the one I’m interested in.

If there is a perfect book to start the year with it has to be Rebecca Mead's My Life in Middlemarch.

The problem for most people as they get older is that they start to buy into their own bullshit to the extent that they just have to eliminate from their inner sanctum anyone who is going to really challenge it. But I think all bandmates of U2 were lucky enough to have the four of us respect and regard each other to the extent that we're kind of always looking out for one another, so none of us can get away with buying into the bullshit.

Rock and roll isn't a career or hobby - it's a life force ... it's just something I have to do.

The big cop-out would be to accept popularity rather than opting to try to create potent work. It's so easy to do the popular thing, the expected thing, and that's where you start to cheat yourself - and your fans, in the end - because there's an inherent dishonesty in pandering and dishing up what everyone's expecting.

Clarity of vision - what you've been looking at from the wrong angle and not seen at all.

First love is alright, as far as it goes. Last love – that’s the one I’m interested in.