Top 180 John Lydon Quotes (2026 Update)

1. “I don’t listen to music. I hate music.”

— John Lydon

2. “Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they’re trying to relay to you.”

— John Lydon

3. “As a human being, I’m work in process.”

— John Lydon

4. “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

— John Lydon

5. “I’m not here for your amusement. You’re here for mine.”

— John Lydon

6. “Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.”

— John Lydon

7. “I’m very open about my politics. I don’t believe in any political party at all, none of them.”

— John Lydon

8. “Dummy Dum Dum was my nickname for years at school. I was the strange one of the family, the one who couldn’t remember his name.”

— John Lydon

9. “I mean, the genuine roots of culture is folk music.”

— John Lydon

10. “I don’t tolerate liars. When somebody lies to me, that’s really, like, just unbearable.”

— John Lydon

11. “Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a staircase, can somehow capture an emotion much better.”

— John Lydon

12. “I have one major problem with the Internet: It’s full of liars.”

— John Lydon

13. “I never thought of Green Day as a punk band. Just bubblegum, really.”

— John Lydon

14. “Only the fakes survive.”

— John Lydon

15. “I like crazy people, especially those who don’t see the risk.”

— John Lydon

16. “Turn the other cheek too often and you get a razor through it.”

— John Lydon

17. “I’m no one’s lap dog, you can’t put me on a leash.”

— John Lydon

18. “Love is what you feel for a dog or a pussycat. It doesn’t apply to humans.”

— John Lydon

19. “You’ll find that empty vessels make the most sound.”

— John Lydon

20. “There’s nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.”

— John Lydon

21. “These days young kids don’t have any place to form an epic adventure. It’s more often in front of the TV screen or a laptop. That’s very hard on them. They’re being taught daily unsocial skills. Facebook is an unsocial skill. It’s so sad.”

— John Lydon

22. “Any kind of history you read is basically the winning side telling you the others were bad.”

— John Lydon

23. “The only good political movement I’ve seen lately was Occupy Wall Street. They had no leaders, which was genius. But unfortunately it always ends up with some hippy playing a flute.”

— John Lydon

24. “If you give me the chance, I’ll destroy America for you.”

— John Lydon

25. “I’ve done no harm to no one. In fact, I think I’ve improved the world.”

— John Lydon

26. “Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.”

— John Lydon

27. “Listen, you know this: If there’s not a rebellious youth culture, there’s no culture at all. It’s absolutely essential. It is the future. This is what we’re supposed to do as a species, is advance ideas.”

— John Lydon

28. “Situationism is a ludicrous proposition. It’s ill-formed and it’s perfectly French. That Gallic disposition towards common sense. L’Anarchie!”

— John Lydon

29. “My words are my bullets.”

— John Lydon

30. “Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.”

— John Lydon

31. “It’s no good being nice and young and naive. There’s no good in that at all. You’ve got to do it all yourself, and you’ve gotta learn quick. And you can’t look for sympathy either.”

— John Lydon

32. “I don’t believe in anarchy, because it will ultimately amount to the power of the bully, with weapons. Gandhi is my life’s inspiration: passive resistance. I don’t want to live in the Thunderdome with Mad Max.”

— John Lydon

33. “You can’t arrest me, I’m a rockstar.”

— John Lydon

34. “Punk became a circus didn’t it? Everybody got it wrong. The message was supposed to be: Don’t follow us, do what you want!”

— John Lydon

35. “One of the most beautiful things about Britain, apart from the NHS and the free education, is the British Army.”

— John Lydon

36. “I always find the mirror in the dressing room is where the best artists are.”

— John Lydon

37. “Punk is like looking at a mirror. I already have a mirror so I don’t need the Offspring to remind me how gorgeous I am.”

— John Lydon

38. “Meat isn’t murder, it’s delicious.”

— John Lydon

39. “I love pop music. It’s not easy to write a good pop song. It may be easier to put out a fake jazz album, as Sting does from time to time.”

— John Lydon

40. “Rules are important, but they’re temporary and they’re always supposed to be changed.”

— John Lydon

41. “Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won’t understand how anyone can have a problem with how they’re treated.”

— John Lydon

42. “I had an Irish Catholic education. Horrible nuns, vindictive and cruel.”

— John Lydon

43. “I have values. But morals are Christian. There’s no religion here. Values. Don’t hurt when you don’t need to, but don’t let anybody step over that line – it’s an invisible line, but it’s respect for somebody’s space.”

— John Lydon

44. “I like lime-flavoured yoghurt. The end. There is no religion. It’s a man-made fabrication. Once you understand that, you’ll be a happier individual. Atheism is as pointless as satanism.”

— John Lydon

45. “If you have something to say then you want someone to pay attention or at least to have the opportunity for them to tell you to shut up and go away.”

— John Lydon

46. “I don’t have any expensive habits. I’m not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I’d love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.”

— John Lydon

47. “Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where I wanted to be.”

— John Lydon

48. “I hate the technological rip-offs that pass for music formats these days, and go back to vinyl to hear a good record because the sound is always so much fuller. I don’t even like listening to music in the car.”

— John Lydon

49. “It’s nice to be irritated. It’s a very joyous thing.”

— John Lydon

50. “Just because people think politically different to you doesn’t mean they’re inhuman.”

— John Lydon