Best 196 quotes of John Lydon on MyQuotes

A healthy mind can live in an unhealthy body.

All the things that you would have thought would have made me a professional A1 criminal... wrong. I decided that was too lazy and easy, and because of the way British society is, quite frankly you were denied an education, so I got one of my own.

Analog, electronic, whatever it happens to be, I simply love and adore literally every aspect of making music.

Anybody who says, "Look, John, I'm a politician. Don't believe a word I say," is a friend of mine.

Any new ideas go into PiL. My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to. I don't listen to any music when I'm in PiL-zone, because influences can poison your well. Otherwise, I listen to anything.

Anyone who's parading under a $100,00-plus video is not free from corporate. That's just the MTV advertising agency. I find them all to be just a bit of a sham.

A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And you couldn't get any further, and the heads of each department were changing all the time, so you couldn't have any permanent relationship within the corporation.

Art should be life. It's an imitation of life. It should have some humanity in it.

As a young concert-going person, I was never enamoured with celebrities who would walk out to feature in certain songs and then walk off.

Being born into the Royal Family is like being born into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something to be taken lightly.

Books are like my one and only joy.

Britain's an island; it's always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration - it makes it a better place.

Destroy everything. That's all well and fine, but you got to offer something in it's place. Since I always have a point and purpose to what I do, thats why people accuse me of being calculated. it's the way I am. I always know my next move. I could never conjure up a death wish, this is all I have is life. I don't know what comes next, and frankly I'm in no rush to find out. I don't believe in playing a martyr just for the sheer hell of it. And for something as chidish as Rock 'N' Roll is not on.

Do not stand in the middle, go to the right or to the left.

Don't accept the old order. Get rid of it.

Do what I want, be honest to myself and then it would do good for others, that's all, full on.

Dummy Dum Dum was my nickname for years at school. I was the strange one of the family, the one who couldn't remember his name.

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

For a gun-toting nation, Americans are surprisingly passive.

For me all governments are my enemies and I've never made any bones about it any other way other than directly, and I don't fly the left flag or the right flag, me, I'm common sense.

For me, I'll always stand up for the disenfranchised, and I'm going to make a big point of that. I'm not a protest singer as such, you know? After the endurance course of the early 70s and 60s, I don't want to become one of them twats. But you got to learn to speak the truth.

For me people are people, without meaning to sound corny, it's a plain natural fact, music is a universal language and I've always known that and observed that and treated music with great respect accordingly.

For me, the anarchy movement is hilarious. It's all under .org, which is of course government sponsored websites, and then they're all wearing corporate clothing from the Dr.Martin's to the back sacks and the cell phones, they're all flying around on corporate jets and using corporate highways. Very anarchistic!

Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they're trying to relay to you.

Having a birthday cake squashed into your face by young kids? Delicious. I always don a Santa suit at Christmas. Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.

Heaven is on this earth. There are no angels on the clouds with twanging harps... That's just another man's fantasy.

Here's how I understand music. If you can play the same bunch of noise twice, it's music. To go beyond that is supercilious and pontificating.

I always feel like a bit of an outsider myself, but as a working class lad, the system was always against me. The British system itself and then of course all the illnesses that were challenging to me.

I always find the mirror in the dressing room is where the best artists are.

I always knew the Sixties wasn't a revolution. It really was just a bunch of university students with wealthy parents having fun.

I come from the school of do it yourself mate. Unfortunately over the years there's been quite a few of, "Can you do it for us Johnny, so we can grab all your glory?".

I could take on England, but I couldn't take on one heroin user.

I'd love to have been born into a wealthy family. I might have turned out even more marvellous than I am now.

I don't believe in false memories, like I don't believe in false songs.

I don't believe in anarchy, because it will ultimately amount to the power of the bully, with weapons. Gandhi is my life's inspiration: passive resistance. I don't want to live in the Thunderdome with Mad Max.

I don't believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free. But I can sit and watch an ant run up and down the floor for hours. I use a magnifying glass to look at the beautiful shape of the thing.

I don't believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free.

I don't have any expensive habits. I'm not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I'd love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.

I don't like walking in the street and seeing 30,000 copies of myself.

I don't listen to music. I hate music.

I don't mind dancing the robot if the chemicals are ok, but beyond that the robot will not pull my strings.

I don't need a Rolls-Royce, I don't need a house in the country, I don't need to live in the south of France. I'm quite happy as I am.

I don't think there's any such thing as rock n' roll anymore - it's an amalgamation of business interests.

I don't tolerate liars. When somebody lies to me, that's really, like, just unbearable.

I don't understand the art of compromise, and it's a shame the politicians don't understand that as well, you know, we might have a better, clearer world. But then saying that, we might also get a lot of Donald Trump's running left right and centre.

I'd rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.

If I'm left to my own devices, I will be tempted to make the most unlistenable music possible.

I find Lady Gaga hilarious. And I kind of like her. My heart's warmed to her.

If my leg falls off, I'll get a prosthetic. There'd be no deep sadness about. I'd just get on with it! It's called life, and I love life. You have to be positive, and you have to crack on no matter what.

If the Royal Family was going to assassinate someone, they would have gotten rid of me a long time ago.