Top 180 John Lydon Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “Let’s face it, I ain’t ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything.”

— John Lydon

102. “I don’t believe in false memories, like I don’t believe in false songs.”

— John Lydon

103. “If you ever want to know why I’m not on a record label, look at ‘The X Factor!’ Honestly, of all the people that strive to break barriers in music and do good things and write great lyrics, not one of them would ever pass the first round on any of these competitions.”

— John Lydon

104. “Simon Le Bon spotted me having a problem there, and he went, ‘Don’t you know who he is?’ and that was it, I was in. I thought, ‘Bloody hell, it takes Duran Duran to get Johnny Rotten into a building!’ I liked him as a bloke, and I like a lot of their songs. I like ‘Girls On Film’, and I can’t pretend otherwise.”

— John Lydon

105. “Books are like my one and only joy.”

— John Lydon

106. “But I don’t call it immigration, I call it migration. As a species it’s very healthy for us to get up and move around the planet. Sometimes certain groups of people have to do that for economic reasons. Nobody’s doing it just to be spiteful. Everybody loves the idea of a homeland. I used to, but I’ve kind of got the bigger picture now. It’s a home planet to me.”

— John Lydon

107. “We need wealthy dogs off the seats of power. They’re taking us back to feudalism and I really don’t want that. But I’m very far from being a socialist.”

— John Lydon

108. “I’d love to have been born into a wealthy family. I might have turned out even more marvellous than I am now...”

— John Lydon

109. “If I’m left to my own devices, I will be tempted to make the most unlistenable music possible.”

— John Lydon

110. “I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can’t eat a thing the day before a gig.”

— John Lydon

111. “I’m not this callous clown walking around laughing at life all the time. I’ve had some serious, serious problems in my life. But I’ve come out with a smile.”

— John Lydon

112. “I’ve always despised the hippies.”

— John Lydon

113. “The so-called alleged ‘art’ of the video – well, the video has killed the radio star, but the video star killed the live musician, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”

— John Lydon

114. “If dolphins are so intelligent, how come they ain’t got Walkmans?”

— John Lydon

115. “There have been conversations here in the United States about why every ex-President opens a library when politicians do not read the books. Hello, America! Kind of explains your politics. For me, reading saved me, it brought me back.”

— John Lydon

116. “I love conversation and the sharing of different thoughts and philosophies. That kind of stuff always makes me happy. I don’t mind interviews, either – I like doing them.”

— John Lydon

117. “It’s nice to be a part of history but people should get it right. I may not be perfect, but I’m bloody close.”

— John Lydon

118. “I do use my music to entertain myself, as indeed I use other people’s music.”

— John Lydon

119. “People should never allow themselves to be dictated to by media.”

— John Lydon

120. “You have moments of grief in life, and if you can put pen to paper and capture that, that’s something wonderful. I can revisit actual songs about past deaths, and I know that emotion is as true now as it was then.”

— John Lydon

121. “My biggest fear is mindlessly and stupidly repeating myself.”

— John Lydon

122. “If anyone asks for your autograph they’re showing you respect and give it back to them.”

— John Lydon

123. “Here’s how I understand music. If you can play the same bunch of noise twice, it’s music. To go beyond that is supercilious and pontificating.”

— John Lydon

124. “As a young concert-going person, I was never enamoured with celebrities who would walk out to feature in certain songs and then walk off.”

— John Lydon

125. “I think I have something valid to say. My words are my bullets. I like to brag that somehow I got it right.”

— John Lydon

126. “I always knew the Sixties wasn’t a revolution. It really was just a bunch of university students with wealthy parents having fun.”

— John Lydon

127. “If you can sort out why you feel the way you do then you might be in better shape to meet your maker.”

— John Lydon

128. “I love boating – not flash, ‘noisy go fast’ nonsense, but the general relaxation of it. My wife and I love to get in our little Wellcraft and go as far out to sea as we can, hopefully beyond land. That is the best thing you can ever do. It clears your psyche.”

— John Lydon

129. “I could take on England, but I couldn’t take on one heroin user.”

— John Lydon

130. “I’m not very good at handling stupid people. I must admit.”

— John Lydon

131. “Pop music I have always loved best.”

— John Lydon

132. “Maybe I’m a prehistoric monster by being an individual. It’s highly likely. All I offer to others is their own individuality. Grab it!”

— John Lydon

133. “I think there’s something basically wrong with the general public that they do need their icons.”

— John Lydon

134. “I’m not able to tell you what the best song is yet, because there’s more to come. I feel that in me. I can still feel the burning energy and the desire to create and create and create.”

— John Lydon

135. “Judge not others unless you’re prepared to be judged!”

— John Lydon

136. “For a gun-toting nation, Americans are surprisingly passive.”

— John Lydon

137. “Music is a simulation of something, but language is the greatest thing we possess.”

— John Lydon

138. “I never wore a studded leather jacket, y’know. Ne-va!”

— John Lydon

139. “I never felt Irish. I always felt, ‘I’m English, this is where I come from, and that’s that.’ Because you’d be reminded of that when you went to Ireland: ‘Ye’re not Oirish!’ the locals would say. So it was like, ‘Bloody hell, shot by both sides here.’ I still love that Magazine song – so relevant to me, those lyrics.”

— John Lydon

140. “I don’t believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free. But I can sit and watch an ant run up and down the floor for hours. I use a magnifying glass to look at the beautiful shape of the thing.”

— John Lydon

141. “My way of thinking as I approach any human being on this planet is, ‘What are you doing now?’ That’s what interests me. I don’t come at anybody with a whole bunch of assumptions.”

— John Lydon

142. “I liked him as a bloke, and I like a lot of their songs. I like “Girls On Film,” and I can’t pretend otherwise. I don’t have hatred for different forms of music, in fact I’ve got a great deal of love and openness to everything done by anybody. Christ, I have to: I’ve got two Alvin Stardust albums.”

— John Lydon

143. “Obama’s dense as a doorbell; not much going on up there – it’s a wooden top.”

— John Lydon

144. “And then you’ve got a media ready to package that, because it takes away from the political content of them songs. Suddenly there’s not a real serious social message, there’s just a drug addict. I.”

— John Lydon

145. “A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And you couldn’t get any further, and the heads of each department were changing all the time, so you couldn’t have any permanent relationship within the corporation.”

— John Lydon

146. “Periods of inactivity, I don’t know such things. I’m consistently writing. My life is busy. It always is. There are hardly any moments for self-indulgent laziness.”

— John Lydon

147. “The idea of hearing, ‘Great gig, man,’ one more time just turns my stomach over.”

— John Lydon

148. “Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That’s living!”

— John Lydon

149. “I’m aware of my songs. I’m aware of them because they’re about true emotions, true feelings, things that matter.”

— John Lydon

150. “I’ve helped launch 49 careers – those that have been in PiL. To me, they are my babies; whatever they get up to, they know I love them. They’ve been living in my pockets, and they should show more gratitude.”

— John Lydon