The whole point of creating music for me is to give voice to things that aren't normally given voice to.

My parents mistook me for a sack of potatoes so I sat in the corner of the kitchen for the first 13 years of my life. My birth name is Thom Potatoes.

What happens a lot with songwriting is that a melody or rhythm or something stays with you like catching a cold. And during that time what happens is that I can then fit things on to it, it all fits and glues together. Sometimes it's crazy cos it can almost be anything. But if you catch the cold then the nonsense makes sense. It's like you're getting beamed it, like with a ouija board and something's pushing your hand. It's not a pleasant experience necessarily.

I don't think young people are as demoralized as the media and government would like us to think. The obvious sign of that is how strong and how close personal connections are and how much people are able to build a life for themselves, despite all this stuff that's been thrown at them.

It's hard being Thom Yorke. You have to get up every morning and look at that face and not shoot at it with a gun.

It's easy to be miserable. Being happy is tougher - and cooler.

Have I told you I have cancer? It's a very special kind of cancer. Cancer of the soul.