Morrissey

Why pamper life's complexity when the leather runs smooth on the passenger's seat?

— Morrissey

In my lifeAt people who I'd much rather kick in the eye ?

— Morrissey

I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving,England is mine and it owes me a living

— Morrissey

You shut your mouth,Just like everybody else does

— Morrissey

Hand in glove, the good people laugh, yes we may be hidden by rags,But we've something they'll never have

— Morrissey

There's more to life than books you know, but not much more

— Morrissey

Oh, the alcoholic afternoonsthan any, than any living thing on earth

— Morrissey

I'm here with the cause, I'm holding the torchHear my voice in your head and think of me kindly.

— Morrissey

Most people keep their brains between their legs

— Morrissey

But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled making Christmas cards with the mentally ill.I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of.

— Morrissey

And when I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death.And neither one particularly appeals to me.

— Morrissey

And now I know how Joan of Arc felt And her started to melt

— Morrissey

As Anthony said to Cleopatra as he opened a crate of ale:Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers.

— Morrissey

It was probably nothing, but it felt like the world.

— Morrissey

You either approve of violence or you don't, and nothing on earth is more violent or extreme than the meat industry.

— Morrissey

The British judiciary continues to label animal protectionists as 'extremists', whilst being unable to consider the Holocaust carnage inside every abattoir to be extreme.

— Morrissey

The brain speculates but the heart knows.

— Morrissey

Nobody can possibly be so hungry that they need to take a life in order to feel satisfied – they don't after all, take a human life, so why take the life of an animal? Both are conscious beings with the same determination to survive. It is habit, and laziness and nothing else.

— Morrissey

I shake like a ship in a storm. It is a fact that even warming moments overwhelm me with despair, and this is why I am I.

— Morrissey

I say a lot of things I don’t mean.

— Morrissey

I think the main thing is that I very rarely recognise the actual interview in print. To me, it's like being painted by an artist. And then you see the picture, and they've painted someone else.

— Morrissey

I don't perform. Seals perform.

— Morrissey

Well, I think when I was a child, more than anything else I wanted not to be ordinary. And I wanted to be considered to be a bit peculiar. When I was at school I wanted to be peculiar and I was delighted when I was at secondary school and I was actually thought to be peculiar (laughs). It was fantastically good for me because I looked around me and I thought, 'Well, however you are I don't want to be like you, so if you think I'm unbalanced then I'm delighted.' That really stayed with me.

— Morrissey

I normally live in Los Angeles, if you can call it normal living.

— Morrissey

What's the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning? Wish I hadn't.

— Morrissey

That's why I do this music business thing, it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up.

— Morrissey

Not everybody is absolutely stupid. Why on earth would I be racist, what would I be trying to achieve?

— Morrissey

I left my fingerprints somewhere - that's good enough. I am my own person - that's good enough. I stand my ground - that's good enough.

— Morrissey

JU: Are you thin still? M: Um, in a crowd, yes. In a crowd of very heavy people.

— Morrissey

Lots of people make the stage and it can seem very violent and over the top, but it's not really. It's always a kind of gentle ballet.

— Morrissey

I never enjoyed life in my twenties, not one minute of it. It was a test of endurance that I'm surprised I survived. Professionally, of course, I was doing very well but personally it couldn't have been worse or more difficult for me if I'd been living in a mud hut in Leeds.

— Morrissey

I was quite advanced when I was at school, and when I left school it seemed that all these really oafish clods from school were making tremendous progress and had wonderfully large cars and lots of money, and I seemed to be constantly waiting for a bus that never came.

— Morrissey

DK: How often does the seriousness end and the irony begin in your work? M: Many times. I have a grand and endless capacity to find myself slightly ridiculous. I'm not pretending to be some wallowing prophet, for heaven's sake. I think we all have to sit down and look in the mirror and think, What is that absurd monstrosity?

— Morrissey

Age gives you a great sense of proportion. You can be very hard on yourself when you're younger but now I just think 'well everybody's absolutely mad and I'm doing quite well'.

— Morrissey

I know I've reached the stage where other artists would bleach their hair or buy a fancy costume, but, inexcusably, I can only be me, which is a full-time occupation and causes terrible backaches.

— Morrissey

PM: What annoys you most about yourself? M: Practically everything. I miss not being able to stand up straight. I tend to slide into rooms and sit on the chair behind the door.

— Morrissey

I think I'm a realist. Which people who don't like me consider to be pessimism. It isn't pessimism at all. If I was a pessimist I wouldn't get up, I wouldn't shave, I wouldn't watch Batman at 7:30 a.m. Pessimists just don't do that sort of thing.

— Morrissey

I once bought a Manchester United hat, which I think was 12 shillings, and somebody ran up behind me and pulled it off and just ran ahead. I thought, 'It's a very cruel world, I'm not prepared for this'. And I decided to get my revenge on society.

— Morrissey

I do maintain that if your hair is wrong, your entire life is wrong.

— Morrissey

I think if I'd led an acceptably frivolous teenage life I wouldn't be singing in this group. I'm sure if you have a great time and get everything you want, all the friends you want, then you tend not to be so ambitious. If you're deprived of certain things it makes you very resilient and you kick very hard for what you want. And I wanted something very special because I'd led such an unspecial life previous to the Smiths.

— Morrissey

GQ: “Who’ll be the first of the Smiths to die?”M: “Me. I’ll be shot – probably by one of the ex-Smiths.”

— Morrissey

GQ: “Were you in love with Johnny Marr?”M: “Sexually? Absolutely not. There was a love and it was mutual and equal but it wasn’t physical or sexual. There are lots of people post-Smiths who would like to make some dramatic homosexual story. There never was one. It’s often said that Johnny rescued me but he was also bobbing about in his own lifeboat.”

— Morrissey

Music that is in the charts today is quite dreadful. I find it a great honour that I have never been considered for awards, such as NME etc. It is a personal victory. All awards shows should be banned!

— Morrissey

It (synthesizers and drum machines) has contributed greatly (to an 'antiseptic' sound). And the fact is, when I look back on the last few years I really can't remember that much of the music, such is its lasting effect. I think it's instantly forgettable and it horrifies me in many respects. It's so sterile and non-human. I don't understand why people play non-human music. It really mystifies me when we're human beings. It's strange. I hate it.

— Morrissey

Well, the problem I've had with all the interviews I've had in America - I had meetings with about nine labels - and they all say to me "Will your new songs fit in with what is popular and what is in the chart?" And I say "Good God, I hope not!"

— Morrissey

I think that when you make a record, an album, it has to be a discovery for the person listening to it, so you don't want to pat everything out and say "this was that, this is definite, that's how it happened and that's what you should feel and that's what you should like or dislike". It's personal discovery."

— Morrissey

MS: Have you ever turned to religion? M: At no time. I am a seriously lapsed Catholic. It was at the usual time, 10, 11, 12, after being forced to go to church and never understanding why and never enjoying it, seeing so many negative things, and realising it somehow wasn't for me. I can only have faith in things I see. I could never be converted to Buddhism.

— Morrissey

Age shouldn't affect you. It's just like the size of your shoes - they don't determine how you live your life! You're either marvellous or you're boring, regardless of your age.

— Morrissey

The reports of my death have been greatly understated.

— Morrissey

If I die, then I die. And if I don’t, then I don’t. Right now I feel good. I am aware that in some of my recent photos I look somewhat unhealthy, but that’s what illness can do. I’m not going to worry about that, I’ll rest when I’m dead.

— Morrissey

The modern Loony Left seem to forget that Hitler was Left wing!

— Morrissey

That’s the key to modern Britain … only the mentally castrated are eligible for praise and awards. It’s against the law to be intelligent! The dumb have inherited the earth. Because of this, British arts are controlled by completely limited possibilities, and the same faces appear everywhere.

— Morrissey

I didn’t vote in the referendum [Brexit] although I can see how there is absolutely nothing attractive about the EU. My view has always been that the result of the referendum must be carried through. If the vote had been remain there would be absolutely no question that we would remain. In the interest of true democracy, you cannot argue against the wish of the people. Without the people, nobody in high office gets paid.

— Morrissey

It's hard to be a man. It's made to be hard and I don't know why. I think it's easier to be a woman. The women's movement has been so successful; the men's movement has never been accepted. I think it's not wanted. I think the expectation that men be stoic and strong is so enormous that finally they decide that this is the attractive way to be. There's more to life than being macho - such an ugly word - which is something that I realized at the age of one.

— Morrissey

TF: At which point did you stop being celibate, why and who with? M: I don't see how anyone would benefit from seeing that kind of information in print. Least of all me.

— Morrissey

M: I don't have relationships at all. It's out of the question. M: Partly because I was always attracted to men or women who were never attracted to me. And I was never attracted to women or men who were attracted to me. So that's the problem. I've never met the right person.

— Morrissey

(Eating meat) is really on the same moral level as child abuse. It’s the same thing. Animals are like children, they look to us for protection. We should protect them. I really feel quite smug about mad cow disease and foot and mouth and so forth, and I just think ‘Well, what do you expect? People have been saying it for years.'

— Morrissey

I think animals need all the help they can get, because they have none. They have no rights. They have no protection. And so I think animals need help. And I think animals look to humans for protection, and of course humans lead them into slaughterhouses, which to me is just like an image of leading children into a slaughterhouse. There’s no difference. That level of trust and… But it’s a very cruel world.

— Morrissey

Because he (Elton John) is pushing his face in all the time, and telling us about his private life. Nobody's interested, he's incredibly rich, he should just go away, and he's just hoisting his problems onto everybody and working them out publicly and...I've said enough.

— Morrissey

Strangely, I liked them (the Sex Pistols) until they made records. I saw them quite a few times before they actually made records. And when they did, it just became... suddenly punk had this enormous scope and was everywhere. Obviously it lost everything. And looking back, I don't really have that much affection for the whole punk thing. It really didn't mean so much to me at all. But of course, I would rather it have been there than not.

— Morrissey

But, ultimately, I don't have very cast iron opinions on black music other than black modern music which I detest. I detest Stevie Wonder. I think Diana Ross is awful. I hate all those records in the Top 40 - Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston. I think they're vile in the extreme. In essence this music doesn't say anything whatsoever.

— Morrissey

I don't want to go on much longer, really. I think that would suggest a lack of imagination. A certain lack of dignity also.

— Morrissey

Let’s be realistic … it’s arson. Everybody knows that. You can judge it by the speed by which the corporate media rushed to call it an accident even though the fire had just started and no one was in any position to know anything. Brainwashing! It’s a bit like hearing the full reason behind a plane crash even though the plane has yet to hit the ocean.

— Morrissey

Jools Holland: "Knock Knock!" Morrissey: "I refuse to open the door."

— Morrissey

DK: Have you ever been to a rave? M: Rave is the refuge for the mentally deficient. It's made by dull people for dull people.

— Morrissey

CH: Have you told many fibs today? M: I lie a lot - it's really useful - but everything I've said today has been the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help me... er... Trevor...

— Morrissey

Age shouldn't affect you. It's just like the size of your shoes - they don't determine how you live your life! You're either marvellous or you're boring, regardless of your age.

— Morrissey

I can't believe I'm 29. Where did the years go? Why did the years go?

— Morrissey

It's the nicest birthday I've ever had. You've made a happy man very old.

— Morrissey

Hello you little charmers... We're The Smiths...

— Morrissey

I have so much pride and love for the songs of The Smiths. However, I must ask you, if you come across any Smiths CDs, don't buy them, because all the money goes to that wretched drummer.

— Morrissey

I suppose you have work tomorrow? That's quite sad, really.

— Morrissey

I can smell burning flesh … and I hope to God it's human.

— Morrissey

What's the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning? Wish I hadn't.

— Morrissey

I'm not an anarchist, but I believe that people don't want the royal family - the so-called royal family.

— Morrissey

The monarchy is foremost a business, and it's important to them that the British public continue to finance the excessive luxurious lifestyles of the now quite enormous, wasteful and useless 'royal' family. I find it very sad.

— Morrissey

If you must write prose or poems, the words you use should be your own. Don't plagiarize or take 'on loan'. There's always someone, somewhere, with a big nose, who knows, who'll trip you up and laugh when you fall.

— Morrissey

That's why I do this music business thing, it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up.

— Morrissey

That's why I do this music business thing, it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up.

— Morrissey

Sing your life; any fool can think of words that rhyme.

— Morrissey

In my life

— Morrissey

The fire in the belly is essential, otherwise you become Michael Buble - famous and meaningless.

— Morrissey

It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind.

— Morrissey

And if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die. the pleasure, the privilege is mine.

— Morrissey

I've been dreaming of a time whenAnd will salute him forever.

— Morrissey