I'm not interested in how well someone can sing. It's what you're singing that interests me.

You can't put rubbish into a computer and get something good out.

If it wasn't for John Peel, there would be no Joy Division and no New Order. He was one of the few people to give bands that played alternative music a chance to get heard, and he continued to be a champion of cutting-edge music throughout his life.

I saw the Sex Pistols, and they were terrible.

I get writer's block all the time. The only way I can write what I consider to be good lyrics is to put myself through the mill.

The words that I'm most happy with are the ones that come from my subconscious rather than my conscious. They just feel right. I think that's the same with music, really. If you're doing an album, there's ten or eleven sets of lyrics, so you get to the point of inspiration ten or eleven times - it's difficult.

One of the things I like about music is it's an abstract art, totally abstract, where you can convey an emotion, which I find amazing.

I tend to think in images and feelings rather than non-abstract concepts.

Choosing a name for a band is always a difficult thing, and I don't think people should read too much into a name because, after all, it's just a handle. It doesn't mean anything.

I'm very proud of New Order and Joy Division, that heritage of songs.

I believe that every business and company takes two years to establish.

People come up to me and say, 'You changed my life.' I don't think I changed anyone's life. I think their life changed while they were listening to the music.

When Joy Division started, I was scared to death of having to get a normal day job.

If you start off writing an album with a band, the reality is that you're constantly in each other's company, so it's really important that you get on with each other.

I always felt like there were always egos involved when I was trying to get music finished in New Order. Sometimes it would feel like I was running through water.

I was no good at anything else at school. But I was good at one thing, which was creativity.

I never met Morrissey.

There were certain things I couldn't do with New Order without upsetting the rest of the band, so I started to write some solo stuff.

II'm quite a successful musician, but I'm not sure if it's my vocation.

I used to be a party monster, very into Acid House, which I saw as my weekend reward for working hard all week.

Playing live is great, but it's not a creative thing, really. It's a reproductive thing.

You spend more time with your fellow band members than your girlfriend or wife, and you end up at each other's throats. It happens to all bands.

You don't see yourself in the same way other people see you.

I'm sure every time I bring something out that isn't New Order, people say it sounds like New Order.

You can't escape from yourself, can you?

Joy Division finished the 1970s on a high. Our debut album, 'Unknown Pleasures,' was doing well; we'd just finished a hugely enjoyable and successful tour. The band's profile was higher than it had ever been, and it seemed to be growing by the day.

As human beings, we all mature physically from childhood to adolescence and then into adulthood, but our emotions lag behind.

It's disrespectful to the older generation to have long hair. They fought in two world wars; they didn't fight for us to grow our hair and look like girls.

King-ian nonviolence is a way of thinking and living and is not confined to the work of social and systemic change.

Love is not a weak, spineless emotion; it is a powerful moral force on the side of justice.

We cannot afford to regard as normal the presence of injustice, inhumanity, and violence, including their verbal and cyber manifestations.

Each of us must decide whether it is more important to be proved right or to provoke righteousness.

My father provided some very important guidance in how we deal with conflict and polarization.

Always realize that even your strongest advocate and opponent is a part of the human family; albeit they may have small shortcomings and even strength in them, they are part of that human family.

We are carrying collectively a lot of trauma, especially those of us in the African-American community. And if we're not careful, it'll overtake us, and we'll self-destruct.

Daddy taught us through his philosophy of nonviolence, which placed love at the centerpiece, that through that love we can turn enemies into friends. Through that love, we can create more dignified atmospheres.

All of us have to be committed to a life beyond our own aspirations.

Thank God for the efforts of Black Lives Matter - we've seen an awakening in this era in a way we didn't see in Daddy's era in terms of people coming to grips with white privilege.

Do we want to be successful, or do we just want to make noise just to make it? Or just to put something on the record? I'll be honest with you, I'm tired of putting stuff on the record. I'm ready to see some real transformation and change.

Some people feel like I'm arrogant. It's unfortunate, because people don't know my heart.

I wouldn't say I'm against same-sex marriage. I believe in freedom and equality for all people. I believe that when it comes to gay marriage, that's a political and legal issue that has to be dealt with in that arena. I have privately held beliefs, but when it comes to that, it's properly placed in the political and legal arena.

My favorite preacher is not with me anymore, and that's my father.

At Grinnell College, for the first time in my life, I was in an all-white setting. It was a shocking experience.

When my father died, the money he left us would have dried up within a year were it not for my mother... We might very well have ended up on welfare.

I didn't have a father to deal with about boyfriends. I didn't have a father to show me how a man and woman relate in a family setting. Therefore, I have given over my life to mentoring young people. I'm adamant about young people who have been denied a father/daughter relationship.

How do we expect change to occur if we are not willing to put on the whole armor of God and fight injustice wherever it raises its ugly head?

Something big is going on. I'm talking about a society that refuses to allow injustice just to persist without making our voices heard and without organizing to bring about effective change through our voting system.

In the end, I still have the same hope as my father - that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the last word.

My dad was one who - he was nonpartisan, first of all. He learned to work with whatever administration was in office.

Unlike some people, my father would try to meet with President-elect Trump because he recognizes that in order to move the agenda of justice, freedom, and equality forward, you can't just protest and resist. You also have to negotiate as well.