Joe Strummer Quotations

All hippies around now just represent complete apathy.

To me, our music is like Jamaican stuff - if they can't hear it, they're not supposed to hear it. It's not for them if they can't understand it.

If you ain't thinkin' about man and God and law, then you ain't thinkin' about nothin'.

When you blame yourself, you learn from it. If you blame someone else, you don't learn nothing, cause hey, it's not your fault, it's his fault, over there.

I don't want to look back. I want to keep going forward, I still have something to say to people.

Yeah, all those things, responsibility, pressure. It's a bit stressful. I try and come to terms with it by not thinking about it.

I think we're going to have to forget about the radio and just go back to word of mouth.

Anyway, it's good to be sent back to the underground. There's always a good side to bad things and the good side to this is that at least everyone has to go back down.

The hippy movement was a failure. All hippies around now just represent complete apathy. There's a million good reasons why the thing failed, OK. But the only thing we've got to live with is that it failed.

I'm proud of all our records. Even the crap ones.

I have a weird life because I live on songwriting royalties, which are a strange income. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't.

What I like about playing America is you can be pretty sure you're not going to get hit with a full can of beer when you're singing and I really enjoy that!

I only saw my father twice a year. If I'd seen him all the time I'd probably have murdered him by now. He was very strict.

With The Simpsons you can go back to work with a keen heart.

The only place I considered home was the boarding school, in Yorkshire, my parents sent me to.

I began thinking there should be an American phrase book, 'cause I've got an Italian phrase book, and an Arabic one... now a British one. I think it'd be pretty good to have an American phrase book.

When we played Paris, the English punks would come over, and they got to know the French punks. There was some nice scenes in the back alleys.

The only place I considered home was the boarding school in Yorkshire my parents sent me to. It's easier, isn't it? I mean, it gets kids out the way, doesn't it?

I found that I was just hopeless at school. It was just a total bore. First, I passed in art and English, and then just art. Then I passed out.

I get on all right with my parents. But I don't see them very much. They split up when I was eight. I stayed with my mum, but I felt it was a bit soft with her. I could do whatever I liked, and I wasn't getting nowhere, so I went to stay with my dad.

We sing in English, not mimicking some American rock singer's accent. That's just pretending to be something you ain't.

We did eight gigs in super-stadiums, all the biggest joints - L.A. Coliseum, Oakland Coliseum, Shea Stadium.

I like to just feel how I feel and not worry about it really.

If you ain't thinkin about man and God and law, then you ain't thinkin about nothin'.

A lot of people... use a calculator!

If you're allowed to make your mistakes, I think you should. But people don't really like hearing you admit them. Although I'd never wanted to dump on the musicians that were involved in that.... Because it was not their fault.

For me the music is a vehicle for my lyrics. It's a chance to get some really good words across.

I want to grow up with my audience. I don't expect to be getting through to the younger pop crowd. I learned that from Paul Simon.

You've gotta be slightly stupid.

There is nothing more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

We aren't particularly talented. We try harder!

I like to read because it's the opposite of being on the go. Reading is the perfect antidote.

I`m kind of like one of those people that picks up small and interesting bits of wood and doesn`t want to let go of them. Or, you know, I`m fascinated with the wrapper on a sardine can. A little cuckoo.

everybody has a story to tell

I learnt that fame is an illusion and everything about it is just a joke. I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all.

There isn't a town in the world I haven't run amok in.

I just want to go back to rockin', but I'm uncertain as to what to actually do ... The truth is, I never stopped thinking about rock 'n' roll for a second that I'm on holiday.

What's holding me up is I'm confused about the nature of the music. Because the modern music doesn't reach me. I mean to say the sound of the modern electric production. A lot of sequencers... synths. That's what people are buying. Because that doesn't reach me, it throws me back to like 1948, but I don't want to be there. Back there, I'm talking about blues records.... The roots of rock 'n' roll is rhythm and blues and that's like really where I'm at, where I was always at.

There is a time to dance to techno and a time not to.

Anybody who makes speeches written by someone else is just a robot.

I hate it when I go out and I see parents going, 'don't do that', or 'stop doing that' when some kid's just hanging off a staircase or something. There's too much of this, 'don't do that'. The whole thing baffles me.

My motto is, 'What's the hurry?' I'm trying to get it across to the modern world that we need to sit around and think a little bit more.

A lot of the time I'm semi-insane, but there is a slight bit of intelligence there.

Nonsmokers should be banned from buying any product a smoker created.

Authority is supposedly grounded in wisdom, but I could see from a very early age that authority was only a system of control and it didn't have any inherent wisdom. I quickly realised that you either became a power or you were crushed

If they can't hear it, they're not supposed to hear it. It's not for them if they can't understand it.

When you're out to get the honey you don't go killing all the bees

Strummer's Law: No input, no output.

Greed, it ain't going anywhere. They should have that in a big billboard across Times Square. Without people you're nothing

The way you get a better world is, you don't put up with substandard anything.

If I had five million pounds I'd start a radio station because something needs to be done. It would be nice to turn on the radio and hear something that didn't make you feel like smashing up the kitchen and strangling the cat.

People can change anything they want to, and that means everything in the world.

It is fun to be alive. It's a hell of a lot better than being dead.

The hippy movement was a failure.

All the power's in the hands of people rich enough to buy it.

When I started, they told me I only needed 3 chords and the truth... It turned out I could manage with 2 and some vague ideas.

I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all.

We`re all going to have to learn to live together and develop a greater tolerance and get rid off whatever our fathers gave us in the way of hatred between nations.

You have the right not to be killed, unless it was done by a policeman or an aristocrat.

The toughest thing is facing yourself. Being honest with yourself, that's much tougher than beating someone up. That's what I call tough.

The future is unwritten.

In fact, punk rock means exemplary manners to your fellow human beings.

Don't write slogans, write truths.

I'd like to say that people . . . people can change anything they want to. And that means everything in the world. Show me any country . . . and there'll be people in it just trying to take their humanity back into the center of the ring . . . . And follow that for a time. Y'know, think on that. Without people you're nothing.

Punk rock isn't something you grow out of Punk rock is an attitude, and the essence of that attitude is 'give us some truth'

Everyone has got to realise you can't hold onto the past if you want any future. Each second should lead to the next one.

I don't have any other message than don't forget you are alive

Don't forget you're alive. 'Cause sometimes when you walk around the city and you're in a bad mood, you can think, hey, wait a minute, we're alive! We don't know what the next second will bring and what a fantastic thing this is. This can get easily forgotten in the routine of life, and that's something I'm trying to bring to my attention at all times. Don't forget you're alive. We're not dead, you know. This is the greatest thing.