British Quotes

I was a visual artist primarily and a writer, even from a very young age. I wrote a lot of stories and poetry and... I had a desire to create always. And I always had a desire to show my work.

I was a visual artist primarily and a writer, even from a very young age.

I tried to use words that were dealing with the emotional quality that any human being could recognize in the way that they felt about their country. It's to do with the world we live in. That world is a brutal one and full of war. It's also full of many wonderful things and love and hope.

I think that's always very valuable: to keep the mind open to receiving all sorts of information, which can then be used in my work, but also just as a human being.

I think I'm a songwriter. I grab an instrument to make my body a song, but I'm not a player as such, maybe a little more on guitar, but certainly not piano.

I literally left school and went straight into music via art college for a year, and I've been so involved in my job of writing songs that the more actively involved part became channeled into standing on the stage and saying things that way.

I firmly disbelieve that one has to be a tortured soul to write good music.

I don't think that much anymore in terms of 'write a record, record a record, tour a record,' because in my own mind, things have changed, in that I'm just an ongoing artist. I'm not quite sure what the next project needs to be until it presents himself, and then I know. I just follow dutifully whil

I don't loathe interviews, I'm just one of those people who makes music because I find it difficult to talk.

I didn't know folk music growing up, no. It's something I've come to study, really, because I think there's so much to learn from traditional music in the sense of the way music began as a way of communication, the traveling storyteller, the bard, the minstrels.

I did photography, painting, and drawing, but I prefer sculpture. I like it because it's very physical.

I decide immediately if I like a person and if I do, then I'm myself, and if I don't, then I give nothing.

I come from an art-school background, and I still feel that in my music, it's about exploration and challenging myself, about putting myself in a place that's frightening because I haven't been there before.

As I grew older, I actually was prepared to go into fine arts school and do a degree. That was what I was actually settled upon when I was offered a record deal.

We were the rebels of the music industry so we wanted to write a rebellious song.

We could give 'Take That' a run for their money.

The last reunion was a bit of a rushed job, we had to do a gig and documentary.

Life is very precious.

It's weird, man. I've had a weird life, and I don't want to end up on the dole. I'm fed up with the plumbing. And I think it would be good to be a little pop star again.

I love artists like Jon B, but I don't wanna be compared to anybody. I'm just doing my interpretation of rnb and how someone like me should be doing it.

I asked the question, 'Will I ever perform again?'

Back then, as a kid, you made a choice of who you liked, and it was either us or 'Take That.' And if you liked 'East 17', it showed you knew what was going on, you were clued up, had better taste in music.

I don't think I even knew how big we were at the time. It was mad. I gained a lot through East 17 and I'm grateful for being able to have that experience.

I despise simplicity. It is the negation of all that is beautiful.

The search for the truth for truth's sake is the mark of the historian.

The chief incalculable in war is the human will.

In should be the duty of every soldier to reflect on the experiences of the past, in the endeavor to discover improvements, in his particular sphere of action, which are practicable in the immediate future.

Guerrilla war is a kind of war waged by the few but dependent on the support of many.

Every action is seen to fall into one of three main categories, guarding, hitting, or moving. Here, then, are the elements of combat, whether in war or pugilism.

Helplessness induces hopelessness, and history attests that loss of hope and not loss of lives is what decides the issue of war.