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David Bowie

David Bowie Quotes

Musician

David Bowie (January 8, 1947 – January 10, 2016) was a legendary British musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. Known as the 'chameleon of rock,' he was celebrated for his eclectic musical style, avant-garde stage personas, and constant reinvention. His career spanned decades, blending rock, pop, electronic, and soul. Iconic works include 'Space Oddity,' 'Heroes,' and 'Let's Dance.' Through characters like Ziggy Stardust, he challenged gender and identity norms, leaving a profound impact on popular culture.

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All Thinking People Ifs Writing Kind Artist Rocks Wanted Feels I Can Knows Mean Song Want Way Years Superhuman World Art Looks

Famous David Bowie Quotes

“I have to take total control myself. I can't let anybody else do anything, for I find that I can do things better for me. I don't want to get other people playing with what they think that I'm trying to do.”

People Thinking Want Trying I Can Can Do Control Myself

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“I don't like to read things that people write about me. I'd rather read what kids have to say about me, because it's not their profession to do that.”

People Writing Kids Profession

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“People look to me to see what the spirit of the Seventies is.”

People Looks Spirit Seventies

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“I went to a middle-class school, but my background is working class. I got the best of both worlds, I saw both classes, so I have a pretty fair idea of how people live and why they do it.”

People World Ideas School Class Saws Middle Fairs Backgrounds Middle Class Working Class Best Of Both Worlds

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“People are always throwing things at me that I've said and I say that I didn't mean anything.”

People Mean Said Throwing Throwing Things

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle. The rock stars have assimilated all kinds of philosophies, styles, histories, writings, and they throw out what they have gleaned from that.”

People Writing Kind Philosophy Character Use Body Song Stars Influence Rocks Style Shapes Lifestyle All Kinds Devices Rock Star Influencing People

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“The coming together of people I find obscene as a principle. It is not human. It is not a natural thing as some people would have us believe.”

People Believe Humans Together Natural Principles Obscene Coming Together Natural Things

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“I'm regarded quite asexually by a lot of people. And the people that understand me the best are nearer to what I understand about me.”

People Understand Me

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“The people who don't know so much about me regard me more sexually.”

People Knows Regard Sexually

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“The younger people get into the lyrics in a different way; there's much more of a tactile understanding, which is the way I prefer it.”

People Way Different Understanding Different Ways Tactile

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“I don't believe in proper cinema; it doesn't have the strength of television. People having to go out to the cinema is really archaic. I'd much rather sit at home.”

People Believe Home Television Don't Believe Cinema

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“I want people to hear musicians like Joe Cuba. He has done things to whole masses of Puerto Rican people. The music is fantastic and important.”

People Want Important Done Whole Musician Mass Music Is Fantastic Cuba

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“TV has eaten up everything else, and Warhol films are all that are left, which is fabulous. Pork could become the next I Love Lucy, the great American domestic comedy. It's about how people really live, not like Lucy, who never touched dishwater. It's about people living and hustling to survive.”

People Film Next Left Comedy Tvs Touched Fabulous Hustle Great American Pork Lucy Warhol

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“My particular thing is discovering what can be done with media and how it can be used. You can't draw people together like one big huge family, people don't want that. They want isolation or a tribal thing.”

People Want Done Bigs Together Used Media Particular Huge Draws Isolation Discovering

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“I would like to believe that people knew what they were fighting for and why they wanted a revolution, and exactly what it was within that they didn't like.”

People Believe Wanted Fighting Revolution

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“Since early middle ages when people generally taking away the barbarity of their like, were pretty content. Although it was all an illicit contentment, what with the slave systems all over the world, in England especially, the peasants and the master, etc. People were incredibly content.”

People World Age Middle Masters England Slave Etc Contentment Middle Ages Peasants Barbarity

Author:David Bowie

“A lot of people provide me with quotes. They suggest all kinds of things to say and I do, really, because I'm not very hip at all.”

People Kind All Kinds Hips

Author:David Bowie

“I surrounded myself with people who indulged my ego. They treated me as though I was Ziggy Stardust or one of my characters, never realising that David Jones might be behind it.”

People Character Might Behinds Ego Treated Realising Stardust

Author:David Bowie

“I was always accused of being cold and unfeeling. It was because I was intimidated about touching people.”

People Cold Touching Accused Intimidated Unfeeling

Author:David Bowie

“You can't go on stage and live - it's false all the way. I can't stand the premise of going out in jeans and a guitar and looking as real as you can in front of 18,000 people. I mean, it's not normal!”

People Way Mean I Can Real Stage Fronts Goes On Normal Guitar Going Out Jeans Premises

Author:David Bowie

“I'm still younger than Jagger... Most people are.”

People Stills Jagger

Author:David Bowie

“A lot of people that I know are bugged with the idea that they have got to have an audience, or they have got to be liked. I think the more that you fall into that trap it makes your own life harder to come to terms with, because an audience appreciation is only going to be periodic at the best of times.”

People Thinking Knows Ideas Fall Term Audience Harder Appreciation Traps

Author:David Bowie

“The world that I inhabit in reality is probably very different world than the one people expect that I would be in. It is quite sedate. It's far removed from a lot of what they would feel to be the limousine traveling rock existence, or whatever.”

People World Feels Different Reality Would Be Existence Rocks Different Worlds Limousines

Author:David Bowie

“I guess, people like myself and Roxy Music that had a different agenda about taking up music.”

People Different Agendas

Author:David Bowie

“They [people] mistake fashion for style.”

People Mistake Fashion Style

Author:David Bowie

“If I hadn't had my children, I would have been discouraged a lot quicker. It would have been much more easy for me to say, "You know what, let the whole thing go. Have a good time, because these people, this place - it's just not worth it." You know? I can't do that anymore. I look into those eyes and they look at me so trustingly that I'm gonna make sure that [they're thinking], "Hey, you did a good thing bringing me into the world, daddy. I'm going to have a great life!"”

“People don't get a chance to think, "Why am I a consumer?" Because the decisions come at them so fast and furiously, they're not [even] given time to think, I am a consumer.”

People Thinking Given Chance Decision Consumers Time To Think

Author:David Bowie

“People will keep the TV on even if a show is on that they hate - because, unfortunately, they've been programmed to do that.”

People Ifs Shows Hate Tvs

Author:David Bowie

“Rather than really have, like a close relationship to anything that's coming out today, people are just, they've got it on as background music. It's kind of the same way the cabdrivers use music; it's very disposable.”

People Way Kind Use Today Backgrounds Coming Out Disposable Close Relationship Background Music

Author:David Bowie

“People got extremely comfortable with being able to turn on their television and see MTV say, "This guy's hot you should buy this record."”

People Should Able Guy Turns Records Television Comfortable Hot This Guy Turn-on Mtv

Author:David Bowie

“[While] my life started taking on all the problems of addiction. So that took me off into an area where relationships were absolutely impossible to handle on any real level. . . . Even communicating with other people was impossible.”

People Real Problem Levels Impossible Areas Addiction Communicate Handle Communicating With Others

Author:David Bowie

“People who had been treated inhumanly, not given a chance to secure any foot on any ladder - and all the social mores were suddenly abandoned.”

People Given Social Chance Feet Treated Secure Abandoned Ladders Given A Chance

Author:David Bowie

“When I was going through those very fast changes, I think it was terribly important to me that I was seen to be inventive. I think that was the characteristic of my work that I wanted people to see.”

People Thinking Important Wanted Characteristics

Author:David Bowie

“The underground went really underground. Grand Funk, and all these people man are the moderate's choice of music. Underground is Yoko Ono, The Black Poets. These people scare the hell out of most freaks. They laugh at Yoko Ono, but it's the whole cliché.”

People Men Choices Black Laughing Hell Poet Scare Freak Funk

Author:David Bowie

“I went mainstream in a major way with the song "Let's Dance." And what I found I had done was put a box around myself. It was very hard for people to see me as anything other than the person in the suit who did "Let's Dance," and it was driving me mad - because it took all my passion for experimenting away.”

People Done Song Passion Mad Driving My Passion

Author:David Bowie

“Am I Machiavellian? I don't think I'm quite the mastermind people would have me be. Everything I do tends to be very successful and it may have something to do with the fact that I'm very good, not necessarily that I manipulate. But that doesn't often occur to people.”

People Thinking Successful Very Good Manipulate Mastermind

Author:David Bowie

“I don't like people probing into my life, so I reveal as little as possible or lie about it as much as need be so as to give them something to write about.”

People Giving Writing Lying

Author:David Bowie

“It amazes me sometimes that even intelligent people will analyze a situation or make a judgement after only recognizing the standard or traditional structure of a piece.”

People Sometimes Situation Pieces Standards Intelligent Structure Traditional Judgement Recognizing Judgemental

Author:David Bowie

“I'm always amazed that people take what I say seriously. I don't even take what I am seriously.”

People Amazed Superhuman Timeless Music

Author:David Bowie

“I think Mick Jagger would be astounded and amazed if he realized that to many people he is not a sex symbol, but a mother image.”

People Ifs Thinking Would Be Mother Sex Symbols Amazed Superhuman Sex Symbol Jagger Astounded

Author:David Bowie

“I don't have stylistic loyalty. That's why people perceive me changing all the time. But there is a real continuity in my subject matter. As an artist of artifice, I do believe I have more integrity than any one of my contemporaries.”

People Believe Real Matter Artist Subjects Integrity Loyalty Perceive Continuity Subject Matter Artifice

Author:David Bowie

“But I'm pretty good with collaborative thinking. I work well with other people.”

People Thinking Wells

Author:David Bowie

“There's a schizoid streak within the family anyway so I dare say that I'm affected by that. The majority of the people in my family have been in some kind of mental institution, as for my brother he doesn't want to leave. He likes it very much.”

People Want Kind Has Beens Brother My Family Institutions Majority Dare Likes My Brother Affected Streaks Schizoid

Book:David Bowie: The Last Interview

Source: David Bowie: The Last Interview

“Religion is for people who fear hell, spirituality is for people who have been there.”

People Has Beens Religion Spirituality Fear Hell Musician Clever Recovery Sobriety Rock Music Addicts In Recovery Inspirational Recovery 12 Step Recovery Aa Recovery

Author:David Bowie

“Some people are marching together and some on their own. Others are running, the smaller ones crawl. But some sit in silence.”

People Running Together Politics Silence

Author:David Bowie

About the Author

Born: January 8, 1947
Died: January 10, 2016
Known for: Musician
Quotes: 412

Related Topics

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Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

David Bowie: The Last InterviewRelated source material

David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - Off the RecordRelated source material

David Bowie: The Last Interview: and Other ConversationsRelated source material

The pocket book of David BowieRelated source material

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