Elton John Quotes

Don't show up around here until your social worker's helped.

I hope you don't mind,
I hope you don't mind,
that I put into words,
how wonderful life is,
now you're in the world.

Anyone who lip-synchs in public on stage when you pay 75 pounds to see them should be shot.

To fight the violence we must be brave, hold on strong to the love God gave.

I've had my fills of cocaine and pills.

We have come so far. It's become a real bipartisan cause, which I'm very happy to see. And in the case of America, and it's - certainly, without America, we'd be facing catastrophe.

Shock waves to a tired brain, sends that hungry lady to my door again. She's my shelter from the storm when I feel the rain, entertaining white powder.

Simon Cowell and I are great friends, and we wind each other up. Rod Stewart and I do the same thing.

Some men kneel and pray, I like women and I like wine.

And I'm afraid, in this day and age, trust, which I count so, you know, I love loyalty. I love trust.

I'd walk a million miles to give her what she needs. But she would walk a million more to do what she believes.

You can beat her, but don't mistreat her. Oh, don't believe that woman please.

The Backstreet Boys can sing their asses off. I'm not so sure about those other boy bands. But Backstreet Boys have my ultimate respect.

Onstage it was always comfortable for me because that's where I felt at home. Offstage it was a different situation. I was still shy offstage and unfortunately, my shyness and my inability to communicate and really have great conversations or be part of the gang - in inverted commas - led me to the drug addiction, which, you know, blighted my life for 16 years because I thought by doing that it would make me join in.

Laughing like children, living like lovers, rolling like thunder, under the covers, and I guess that's why they call it the blues.

But actually, my drug addiction thing, I was so stubborn.

As Elton John, my days on pop radio are over, and I know that and I accept it and I'm not unhappy about it.

I don't have a computer. I am the Luddite of rock'n'roll, I don't have a portable phone. I write things down.

I've dodged so many bullets. Not just because of unsafe sex, but because of the amount of drugs I did, the amount of alcohol, the amount of work I was doing. I started the Elton John AIDS Foundation because I got so lucky.

I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life. I love the food. I love the people. I love the attitudes of Italians.

I had a little Richard and that black piano, oh that sweet Georgia Peach, and the boy form Tupelo.

All this science I don't understand, it's just my job five days a week.

I grew up in the Fifties and early Sixties, which were still quite conservative, and I wasn't given any information about sex or anything like that; I went out with girls at school because one had to. I didn't experiment with sex for quite a long time.

It's so easy to write songs about misery and hard times and sadness. It's much more difficult to write songs about happy and chirpy stuff.

I guess that's why they call it the blues, time on my hands could be time spent with you.

The ugliest woman you'll ever meet, but she's mine and she's ugly.

It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics to set you on your feet again.

I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East
you're as good as dead.

There ain't been no angels in heaven around since God invented girls.

Well, I was making a record, and I had to choose a name, because they said, you know, you can't make a record under the name of Reg Dwight, because it's never going to - you know, it's not attractive enough.

I'm not everybody's cup of tea. But sometimes criticism can be hurtful. Be respectful. I'm a good piano player, I can sing well, I write good songs. If you don't like it, fair enough. But give me a break.

So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do
You see I've forgotten, if they're green or they're blue
Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes, I've ever seen.

I suspected my homosexuality, but I'd never acted out on it because I was afraid of sex. It's awful to be afraid of sex.

When your persona begins to take over your music and becomes more important, you enter a dangerous place. Once you have people around you who don't question you, you're in a dangerous place.

Loneliness was tough, the toughest role you ever played. Hollywood created a superstar, and pain was the price you paid.

Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.

We can't keep thinking of gay people as being ostracised; we can't keep thinking of Muslim people as being ostracised because of the fundamentalism that occurs in Islam. Muslim people have to do something about speaking up about it. We can't judge a book by its cover.

How wonderful life is while you're in the world

When we started, I was delivering meals to people in Atlanta. We were a direct-care organization. And it was - people needed meals, they needed transport, they needed medication, they needed buddy systems. They had a death sentence. There was AZT, and that was just prolonging the agony, basically. Now people, of course, if they are on antiretrovirals, they face a lifetime of health, basically. I mean, it doesn't - it's I would say in the 99 percent certainty bracket that if you are on that medication, you will have a healthy life.

It was also great to have the Backstreet Boys appear on stage with me because I have gotten to know them all a little bit just recently, and not only are they great performers, but they also very hard working professionals and really nice guys.

As a child, as a teenager, I was kind of not allowed to wear fashionable clothes.

It's the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, 'till we find our place, on the path unwinding.

She's got electric boots, a mohair suit, you know I read it in a magazine.

The work became like the drug addiction, the clothes, anything in my life. It became - it's become an addiction. I'm addicted to working.

I am the most well-known homosexual in the world.

I still want to play music but I don't want to look like Donald Duck while I'm doing it.

And now South Africa has finally woken up and it is doing great things. And if South Africa becomes the template to what AIDS is in the sub-Saharan continent, then all the other countries are going to follow suit. And Michel Sidibe, who spoke at the breakfast meeting this morning, was saying that there is so much hope for Africa now that South Africa has got its house in order.

I knew about AIDS. My friends were dying right, left, and center. I did a record with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight. I did a couple of benefits.

Well, I quit those days and my redneck ways.

I spent the last week of Ryan's life in Indiana, Indianapolis, with Jeanne and Andrea, Jeanne, his mother, Andrea, his sister, and some other beautiful people who came. And it taught me a lesson.

It was Scotty Moore's guitar riff [in "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You"] when he was doing The Steve Allen Show that got me into rock music.

It was Saturday late, have you seen my mates, can you tell me when the boys get here? Well, it's seven o'clock and I want to rock and get a belly full of beer.

Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel.

Lawdy Mama, those Friday nights when Suzy wore her dresses down tight.

He's been dead for so many years, but I'm still trying to impress him. That's what gave me my drive. 'Look at me, Dad, I've succeeded.'

I was just genuinely shy. I'd always been a shy kid.

George W. Bush was passionate about AIDS. And we had a 10-minute talk at the interval of a concert at the Kennedy Center about AIDS. And I was astonished about how well-informed he was and his commitment to AIDS. And so it's the typical thing of don't judge a book by its cover until you have read the book.

I hate to say this, but I always listen to the music and the instrumentation first, and then grab on to the lyrics later.

Better to build a bridge than a wall.

I heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and that was it. I didn't ever want to be anything else. I just started banging away and semi-studied classical music at the Royal Academy of Music but sort of half-heartedly.

And I talked to my doctor, and I must admit, you know, I'm sometimes quite renowned for my outbursts and I was just very frustrated, maybe a little frightened.

If I was to say what I am, I'd be a Labour man. I like Tony Blair a lot, I think he's a good man. And in America I'd definitely be a Democrat; I'd never be a Republican.

I love drag queens and I love going to see them perform because those people have got so much character and bravery. Such balls! I love people with balls.

He [Ryan white] spoke to me that my life was out of order. My life was a mess. I had no values anymore. And he was so stoic with his infection. He wasn't bitter. He wasn't angry. He just was a kid. He wanted to go to school and play football, drive his car. And he had no bitterness about him.

Because, I figured that, because I was a successful man, I was wealthy, I was, you know, seemingly intelligent - even that I am not intelligent enough to ask for help.

I love people who expect me to wear great, feathery costumes- and I do it. It's like an actor getting into his costume for his part. I don't really feel that part until I'm into whatever I'm going to wear.

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane. I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain and I can see Daniel waving goodbye. God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes. They say Spain is pretty though I've never been, well Daniel says it's the best place that he's ever seen. And he should know, he's been there enough. Lord I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much.

Make this man a saint now, OK?

I didn't have sex until I was 23 and that was with a man. I made up for lost time after that in a hurry. I wish I could have had sex when I was, like, 14, 15 or 16 because that's such an exciting age to have sex.

I never really made a full album in Los Angeles before.

Don't let the sun go down on me.

Welcome to the world of bullshit, my dear. You have arrived.

Cause what the hell is wrong with expressing yourself, trying to be me?

Take me to the pilot of your soul.

I'm going to fight for human rights, whether I do it silently behind the scenes or vocally so that I get locked up. I can't just sit back; it's not in my nature. I can't sit back and blindly ignore it, and I won't.

There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex
they should draw the line at goats.

I'll not complain about your boring life, if you just leave me to mine

I was sitting in the classroom trying to look intelligent in case the teacher looked at me.

What we should be doing as musicians is trying to bring people together.

After claws and feathers, he took skin and bone, shaped it like an hour glass and made the angels moan.

This life's a long old road
We shouldn't have to walk alone
But if you find the right companion
You won't feel so worn out when you've grown
All life is precious
And every day's a prize
And sometimes you'll find an answer in the sky

We live in an age, in an era where there is so much negativity, there is so much violence in the world, there is so much unrest and people are at war, that I wanted to promote the word love and red signifies love.

If there's a God in heaven, what's he waiting for? If He can't hear the children, then he must see the war.

He'd been drinking in a bar downtown, when he thought he heard a choir of angels singing in the Tiki Lounge. And that's when he got religion.

They're [[harmaceuticals companies] just making a killing out of people's death. And they're benefiting by people's suffering. And I find that obscene. I find it ridiculous in this day and age, that that would happen. And it took President Clinton to go to rogue pharmaceutical companies to copy the antiretroviral drugs for a fraction of the cost.

I've watched other people singing, I've become a much better singer. I've become a singer that plays the piano instead of a piano player that sings.

It's just so wonderful to have someone in the house like a child to turn your attention to. It's not about you anymore, it's about this lovely little human being.

It was insanity, but it sounded romantic.

It turned out so well because it was the first album that I could identify with in terms of lyrics. ("Captain Fantastic") It was passionate ... I could associate myself with every song ... It's a unique album in our history. This was the story of us ... "Curtains", the lyrics to that are so beautiful because it sums up our friendship so much, and our relationship.

I really appreciate my performing so much better, as I get older. I don't take it for granted anymore. I really relish it and love it.

I'm addicted to working. I mean, I have a list of 100 countries I want to play in. I'm basically killing myself by travelling so much, for no reason whatsoever.

You can call me a fat, balding, talentless old queen who can't sing, but you can't tell lies about me.

Basically, I wanted redemption for the way I lived my life beforehand, and that was the drugs, the drink, the loose sex, whatever ...

The AIDS disease is caused by a virus, but the AIDS epidemic is not. The AIDS epidemic is fueled by stigma, by hate, by misinformation, by ignorance, by indifference. Science has accomplished miracles over the past 20 years, and science can now end this disease - but it cannot end the epidemic. We need more than medicine. We can do something about these things. We need to speak out about the changes we need to make in our society.

Oh teacher, I need you like a little child, you got something in you to drive a school boy wild.

The only thing the record companies put out now is 'Best of,'

When a rumor doesn't go away it's not a rumor

And there are men behind bars who pray for the light and there are men in the suburbs who pray for the night.

I love every minute of fatherhood, staying up all night, changing nappies, kids crying, I find it really funny and inspiring. It connects you to the world in a new way.

I've had an amazing professional life, personal life, but at 64 to have a son who gives us that much love and enjoyment is, wow!