Top 60 Jimmy Barnes Quotes

The music industry is quite brutal and quite harsh and can be spirit shattering, but it’s an honour to be a musician because your job is to make sure people enjoy themselves; to make people forget about their troubles.

Success isn’t about reaching your goals; it’s about striving for things, like the joy of trying to raise a family, trying to be a successful singer, trying to write good songs, trying to be a better person. It’s that old thing about life being about the journey, not the destination.

I learned that the public and the press don’t need to know everything about you, or they might turn on you.

The best thing about this country is the difference in all of us. We all come from different backgrounds. It’s a really beautiful thing.

Jane and I – somehow we fell into each other’s arms, and I adored her! I loved her from the minute I saw her. I don’t think I knew what love was.

I love my mum and dad, but they were shocking providers and carers.

The best times in Cold Chisel were when we were all in the back of the car together, us against the world.

When I came to Australia, it was like heaven.

I think it’s criminal the way poverty is allowed to flourish.

When I first started, all the reviews of Cold Chisel would say, ‘This singer won’t have a voice in six months.’

We still had all our problems growing up as a struggling immigrant family, but Australia was like a breath of fresh air, literally. Playing on grass, having good schools – trees. I didn’t even know trees where I’d come from. So from the day I got here, I’ve loved Australia.

If there was one thing I tried to instil in my children as they were growing up, it was that you get nothing for nothing. You have to work hard to get any rewards. That applies in music or whatever you choose to do. The same goes in relationships; you will only get back what you put in.

I have done a lot of great things. I have a beautiful family and wonderful friends. But there were many times, dark times, that I almost let it all slip through my fingers.

I’m happy to be recording and singing live. I have a great family, and a great bunch of people always come and see me sing. What more does a man need?

Thais are one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. It’s not called the land of smiles for nothing.

For a long time, it was all about chart position. ‘If my record doesn’t come in at No. 1, I’m a failure.’ I cared too much about what people thought of me, and that was symptomatic of the trauma from my childhood.

My dad was a womaniser, a gambler. He was violent. They thought if they left Scotland, they would leave the problems behind.

I keep my Scottish connection. I know where I was born, and that’s an important part of my history, and I think all immigrants are the same. But if I could live anywhere in the world, it would be Australia.

Don’t take your friends for granted or that everyone is going to be OK.

Where I grew up, there were times when we didn’t have anything to eat.

I love playing live.

Cold Chisel had their moments, but basically, they were all decent, quiet chaps. I was just a lunatic. Those guys didn’t know what had hit them when I joined the band.

I used to think I was tough, but there’s a difference between bravado and courage, and I only started to show courage when I began to get help. So now I make a point of telling people, ‘Hey, it’s a good thing to ask for help, not a bad thing.’

As a teenager, I didn’t really think about anything. I was just stumbling around trying to find something.

Iggy Pop is legendary – he is awesome – and I am a massive Bruce Springsteen fan. His song ‘Cautious Man’ is my favourite song. It’s really poignant, dark, and moody, like myself.

When I hear a singer, I want them to be passionate and intense, and soul singers like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett always seemed to do exactly that.

Most people I know think that I’m crazy – but anybody who actually knew Billy Thorpe didn’t think that. When I was a young kid growing up in Adelaide, he was a big pop star – a well-dressed, nice young guy seen on television every week. Mums liked him.

I used to think anyone with abandonment issues was a waste of space. But you do need to get help. Blokes don’t talk about those things. It’s a taboo in the bloke world.

I’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but I don’t look back on anything with regret.

Where I lived in Glasgow looked like Dresden after the war. It was a bomb site. I don’t think I’d ever played football on grass until I moved to Australia.

I’m really happy with the way I am, and I’ve got a fantastic family and a great life, and I don’t need anything else.

Everything that happened to me as a child was the perfect breeding ground for a rock n’ roll singer. It toughened me up. I was on edge; I was needy. I needed people to like me ’cause it made me feel safe… and that gave me confidence.

I’m not running out of inspiration.

I came from a tough childhood. There was a lot of stuff that I’d actually forgotten or that I’d blocked or hidden away until I started addressing it.

It’s a real bloke thing, not talking to people because it’s not manly to get help.

I like people of faith, and I believe the more people who have spirituality, the better the world will be. It’s about peace and tolerance.

I hate fear politics.

We all do the best with what we have.

I was lucky I was blessed with the constitution of a horse.

I’m an immigrant.

You should fight for every breath you have.

I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve done some good things along the way.

Partners fall in and out of love, but they still need each other.

My childhood in Adelaide was filled with sport. I played soccer from morning until night.

I have always loved soul singers.

I always thought I could be brave and charge at things and smash ’em and walk away, but it takes courage to sit and look at things and say, ‘This is what I am. How do I fix it? How do I live with it?’

Everything affects you, and it doesn’t measure how tough you are by being a rock and sitting by yourself. People need to talk. It’s not a sign of weakness.

I come from a multicultural family. My wife’s Thai. My children are half-Asian, half-Scottish; we’re all immigrants.

For me, ‘Soul Deep’ wasn’t an easy thing to do.

Kids are the best thing ever.

No matter how much poverty you grow up with, you shouldn’t be subjected to violence and abuse.

We’re a whole country full of migrants – we need each other, and we should help each other.

I got to 25, and I thought, ‘I’m never going to make 30.’ But now I look at it like… if you can remain true to what you do, I don’t see why you can’t keep doing it.

I find that cooking is relaxing and makes me feel at home.

Life is good.

I don’t want to become a laid-back artist by any stretch of the imagination.

‘Working Class Man’ is my second memoir and is a continuation of my story from where ‘Working Class Boy’ left off. The book is really an attempt at explaining the impact of my childhood on myself and the ones I loved as an adult.

I was not an ideal parent, and there were things that I did right and things I did wrong.

You see politicians talking about negative gearing or tax on your second home – most people I knew growing up couldn’t afford the rent, let alone buying a house, or a second house.

One of my major regrets was that period in my life where I wasn’t present in my kids’ life. I was in another world.