Keith Richards

“This is the rock 'n' roll life, and you had to invent it as you went along. There was no textbook to say how you operate this machinery.”

“Hey, we just enjoy it. I think we think we're getting the hang of this thing, you know?”

“You know, the BBC had not been particularly generous in its deliverance of blues and esoteric kinds of music.”

“When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.”

“I've never tried to achieve anything. I achieved everything I wanted to achieve by being in the Rolling Stones and making records.”

“To me, as long as we've known each other, I've always thought Mick's most brilliant thing was that he could work in an area two foot square and give a very exciting performance.”

“Getting old is a fascination thing. The older you get, the older you want to get.”

“The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.”

“If you say I'm great, thank you very much. But I know what I am. I could be better, man, you know?”

“Classic of '43. Don't knock it. A Vintage year.”

“About myself I have no great illusions. I know what I am. I know what I'm good at. I know what I ain't. I'm always hoping to surprise myself. But I do have a love of music and I do love to communicate it, and that's the best I can do, really. And I can raise a good family, too.”

“I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.”

“Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.”

“There's something beautifully friendly and elevating about a bunch of guys playing music together. This wonderful little world that is unassailable. It's really teamwork, one guy supporting the others, and it's all for one purpose, and there's no flies in the ointment, for a while. And nobody conducting, it's all up to you. It's really jazz__that's the big secret. Rock and roll ain't nothing but jazz with a hard backbeat.”

“To me, my biggest fear is getting a big head, and that is when I get the hammer. Because it's very easy in this game to believe you're something special.”

“You've got the sun, you've got the moon, and you've got the Rolling Stones.”

“It's good to be anywhere.”

“I have no idea what the audience makes of me.”

“I've never had my hair cut by anybody, I do it all myself.”

“I've always been suspicious of TV, I've always found music and video to be an unhappy marriage.”