David Bowie Quotes

You would think that a rock star being married to a super-model would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is.

(...) never play to the gallery, but you never learn that until much later on, I think. Never work for other people. Always remember that the reason that you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest it in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you coexist with the rest of society. I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people's expectations. I think they generally produce their worst work when they do that.

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour
drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine
don't think you knew you were in this song.

- Five Years

Some make you sing and some make you scream,
One makes you wish that you'd never been seen.
But there's a shop on the corner that's selling papier-mache,
Making bullet-proof faces, Charlie Manson, Cassius Clay.
If you want it, boys, get it here, thing.

- Sweet Thing

And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations.
They're quite aware of what they're going through.

- Changes

The night before flying to New York, I watched Bowie's brief performance as a serene, pragmatic Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. 'That's a strange movie to watch before going on a plane flight,' Bowie laughs. 'It's like, shall we find out — is there a God?' Then, as if moving on to the next logical topic, Bowie says, 'I can't wait to see the other 10 percent of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They're in fragments, of course, kind of a Bill Burroughs effect...' and he recounts for me a certain conspiracy theory ('a '70s thing') about a secret section of the Dead Sea Scrolls supposedly written by a Jesus who'd escaped from the cross and ended up dying a revolutionary at Masada. This secret stuff is, according to the theory, held in the Vatican and shown only to each new Pope on the day of election. But what on earth, I ask, could the big secret be anyway? 'Oh,' laughs Bowie, 'that there really was a Brian.

I’m a person who can take on the guises of people I meet. I’m a collector, and I collect personalities and ideas.

David Thomas: What do you think is the worst crime that could possibly be committed? What is the crime that offends you most?

David Bowie: Seeing a man humble himself in his capacity as a worker to somebody else, and having to have that accepted as a given situation.

Confront a corpse at least once. The absolute absence of life is the most disturbing and challenging confrontation you will ever have.
David Bowie

My country is in the depths of lethargy and very apathetic, there is very little happening. There’s no action in my country. This is quite a challenge to come over to a country like this where for me the most important thing to me is that the music is a communicative blanket media. Where at home it’s merely something to listen to.

God is an American.
I'm afraid of Americans.
I'm afraid of the world.
I'm afraid I can't help it.
I'm afraid I can't

Well, I've been breaking these rocks And cutting this hay Yes, I've been breaking these rocks What's my price to pay? Well, the river's so muddy, but it may come clear And I know too well what's keeping me here I'm just a slave of a burning ray Oh, give me the night, I can't take another sight

I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.

I'm afraid of Americans.

Look up here, I’m in heaven I’ve got scars that can’t be seen I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen Everybody knows me now <p> Look up here, man, I’m in danger I’ve got nothing left to lose
I’m so high it makes my brain whirl Dropped my cell phone down below <p> Ain’t that just like me