Quotes About Expression

Rushdie Affair became the Dreyfus Affair of our age because it revealed how, when faced the threat of violence, ordinary political categories collapse.

Compared to the millions killed in wars and genocides in the years that followed the fatwa, the pain the enemies of the novel inflicted was small. But it was sufficient. The threats against Rushdie produced a fear that suffused Western culture and paralysed its best instincts.

Today's supporters of religious censorship claim that they are different. They say they are not advocating censorship because they believe we must bow down before Church and state, but because we must respect different cultures and say nothing that might offend them.

Writers write badly when they have something to hide.

Writers write badly when they have something to hide. Clarity makes their shaky assumptions plain to the readers – and to themselves.

I wish we all didn't have a story. –Karen

If songs were lines in a conversation, the situation would be fine.

Read as much as you can. Write only when you feel the inner need to do so. And don't ever rush into print.

I love the relationship that anyone has with music ... because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. ... It's the best part of us probably ...

How do people, like, not curse? How is it possible? There are these gaps in speech where you just have to put a "fuck." I'll tell you who the most admirable people in the world are: newscasters. If that was me, I'd be like, "And the motherfuckers flew the fucking plane right into the Twin Towers." How could you not, if you're a human being? Maybe they're not so admirable. Maybe they're robot zombies.

I love the relationship that anyone has with music ... because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. ... It's the best part of us probably ...

Everyone knows how to talk, and no one knows what to say.

Somethin' about that night time made it real conducive to playin' blues

First, I always go for the key, then I go for the rhythm, then I go for the melody, then I go for the lyrics, OK? That's how I do it.

I've made bad records but I've never made a dishonest record, let's put it that way.

The thing is … to be blunt about it, the trouble with being an adulterer and a songwriter is that you always write songs in code.

I've got to keep moving somewhere. I've written some of my best songs on the move, driving on a long journey, scribbling lyrics on cigarette packets while steering. I like that style,

We just see Happy Mondays as this licence to do what we want right now as much as possible.

I don't try to make the sound better. Trying is not the way to do it. The way to do it is to find a medium by which you can create a sound through these other guys and myself by that medium.

I think an artist will have to know that the reward is in the giving. That's where it's at: it's called "unconditional love".

And then you come back all around … People are what I need, I need to make music for people instead of saying, "Fuck people!" I used to say that, but not anymore. You love the people. You give to people. You create music for people to hear, so that they can say, "Hey, yeah, that's real

For me, an image becomes meaningless inasmuch as it's always temporary. See, I've gone off on that tangent again, because you asked me about the image and all that. I just couldn't relate to all that side of things because, all that time, I was focused on trying to make the music sound half-way decent.

That word doesn't have any fuckin' meaning for me. In this life, some people are just less mad than others. That's all.

That's how these songs of his seem to come to him anyway. They start from simple everyday occurrences the composer finds himself running into on the tube, say, or maybe on his way down to the off licence. And then they blossom into raging chunks of perfectly matched melody and savage eloquence.