Top 30 Keith Richards Quotes

Another thing to do with the blues is how they were recorded. They were done on the quick, and some of that stuff was made on wire, not even tape, let alone digital.

Let me be clear about this. I don’t have a drug problem. I have a police problem.

Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can’t do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen.

To make a rock’n’roll record, technology is the least important thing.

Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll.

I mean, give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string, I wouldn’t get bored anywhere.

You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe – and you have the Rolling Stones!

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.

Give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string; I wouldn’t get bored anywhere.

If you don’t know the blues… there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.

Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.

I only get ill when I give up drugs.

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.

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

You didn’t know whether Chuck Berry was black or white – it was not a concern.

Everybody’s got a different way of telling a story – and has different stories to tell.

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.

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

When I listen to what I did under the influence – 10 years of work – I don’t think it either enhanced or impaired me. It didn’t have that much to do with it.

You don’t start to play your guitar thinking you’re going to be running an organisation that will maybe generate millions.

You’ve got the sun, you’ve got the moon, and you’ve got the Rolling Stones.

It’s an addiction… and addiction is something I should know something about.

You get onstage and make other people feel happy. Make them feel good.

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.

The Beatles were basically a vocal band.

I never thought I was wasted, but I probably was.

If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use both feet.

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

I don’t trust doctors. It’s not to say there ain’t some good ones, but on a general level, no, I wouldn’t trust ’em at all.