You know, rock n' roll's an old carcass: it's one big cliche. It's so difficult to do anything that has any sense of freshness or vitality or meaning. But that's what I'm trying to do, to give it new meaning.

The Richard Ashcroft of 1992 would have struggled to imagine the path my life has taken - he would be amazed at the changes in my song writing.

I don't like being told what to do.

Even if you're not releasing songs, the act of creativity is important. That's the part I love, when you're in the moment. The rest of it I'm not particularly interested in at all.

I have never had a bad review off a good-looking person.

I don't believe in a new-age movement; I'm not a hippy.

It's difficult to be the spokesperson for something that internally is falling apart. That's a tremendous amount of pressure to put on one person, to be the guy who gives all the quotes, all the interviews.

If this world hasn't made you semi-mad, then you ain't living in it.

We never had a stylist, so I always wore my own clothes.

Glasgow Barrowlands is the greatest concert venue in the world.

I don't want to be responsible for messing up someone. I don't want to be responsible for that, because the things that happened in The Verve, it was heavy stuff. It was real. It wasn't just frivolous nonsense, you know what I mean? There was real people's lives.

Music is power.

80% of everything I've experienced since the Verve has been depressing.

Technology means the kind of music you can make on your own if you've got an imagination is amazing. It's crazy that I can sit with a Mac and a keyboard and a mic and create a symphony.

I love sportsmen's spirit, their ability to come back and override negativity. Michael Owen has been written off so many times, but he will always prove the doubters wrong.

I'm very interested in Darwinism and how that affects us on a day-to-day level. But I also have a deep interest in theology and the spiritual.

I don't think I have enough German blood in me to get into the royal family.

I'm a naturally gifted left-footed footballer.

People do get out of my way when I'm walking to the shops.

People wanted me to become this cliched Keith Richards, Iggy Pop character. I wasn't expected to marry a beautiful wife and have kids.

I wouldn't trade what Coldplay have achieved for any of my songs.

Don't expect me to be some indie schmindie embarrassed about my success.

Ultimately, if someone's paying hard-earned money to see me play live, they don't want a rant about what's happening on the other side of the world. They don't want to know which way they should vote.

I'm very lucky that I can walk on the stage before anyone in the world. And that's the thing: you've got to be pretty confident to go on after me. You've got to have the artillery, as I call it. And the artillery is your songs.

Rock n' roll is like a religion.

The mainstream consumed our culture.

If you really, truly believe in something, you're on fire, and your tongue rolls at the same pace.

At The Verve's first-ever gig, I said that we were gonna blow this local band off the stage. It was only in the local Wigan paper, and they rang me to ask why I was being so aggressive. I just went, 'Hey man, it's like boxing. I'm just trying to sell a ticket.'

I've had tons of incredible conversations with people who say they got married or buried relatives to my songs.

Hearing 'This Is How It Feels' on the radio was an amazing feeling, like starting again. But I believe that, in the end, my name will be bigger then the Verve because of all those great tunes and the power of what I stand for.

There's a track called 'Why Not Nothing' about how the world's turning so conservative and so religious at the same time. I think it's up to the songwriters to give another side to the coin, and my music does that.

Obviously, aging has a certain amount of mellowing process because there's certain things you realise you were doing when you were younger that were plain ridiculous, stupid.

I'm never happy with any record, never truly been happy.

I strongly disagree that you can't have a happy family life and a child as well as rock n' roll.

If you judge people by what they've done in the past, you're wrong.

I've got a talent, and people enjoy my songs, people love my songs; why stop?

As a musician, I don't wanna put out political soundbites.

I want to entertain and inspire.

I've always felt like an outsider in this industry, but that sense of community - that sense of belonging with your fans - it's an amazing feeling, and it's really inspiring.

The music industry wants safe rock stars, people who are totally homogenised.

It doesn't matter how fashion or politics changes; you'll never change a classic song.

A classic song is timeless. You'll never outlive a classic song. I'll never put The Beatles 'In My Life' on one day and say, 'That doesnt move me any more.'

'Bitter Sweet Symphony' is one of the greatest pieces of modern art created by anyone. I'm not blowing my own trumpet here.

'Bitter Sweet Symphony' is one of the biggest hip-hop records of all time once you actually analyse it.

If Sinatra had packed in his style because there were a load of counterfeit Sinatras about, he would have stopped singing in 1956 or whatever.

There's always one character, I think, in every town who's the obsessive who steals money to go and buy records.

I think I've learned a lot on the vocal side of things.

I don't ever want to get to the point where I don't think about death! You've got to swim in it, learn from it - embrace it!

If the way I see the world is mad, then fantastic.

I love my cracked eyes.