Keith Richards quotes

“If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.”

— Keith Richards

“Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll.”

— Keith Richards

“I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police.”

— Keith Richards

“Let me be clear about this. I don't have a drug problem. I have a police problem.”

— Keith Richards

“If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use both feet.”

— Keith Richards

“Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen.”

— Keith Richards

“I mean some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to their funeral.”

— Keith Richards

“It's great to be here. It's great to be anywhere.”

— Keith Richards

“I mean, give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string, I wouldn't get bored anywhere.”

— Keith Richards

“You've got the sun, you've got the moon, and you've got the Rolling Stones.”

— Keith Richards

“It's good to be anywhere.”

— Keith Richards

“I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.”

— Keith Richards

“Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.”

— Keith Richards

“I never thought I was wasted, but I probably was.”

— Keith Richards

“I only get ill when I give up drugs.”

— Keith Richards

“It's an addiction... and addiction is something I should know something about.”

— Keith Richards

“The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.”

— Keith Richards

“To make a rock'n'roll record, technology is the least important thing.”

— Keith Richards

“And it was a very, very fruitful and great relationship between the Stones and The Beatles. It was very, very friendly.”

— Keith Richards

“Everybody's got a different way of telling a story - and has different stories to tell.”

— Keith Richards

“The Stones in a club is still the ultimate rush.”

— Keith Richards

“To me, as long as we've known each other, I've always thought Mick's most brilliant thing was that he could work in an area two foot square and give a very exciting performance.”

— Keith Richards

“Yes, I've been trepanned. That's quite an interesting experience, especially for my brain surgeon, who saw my thoughts flying around in my brain.”

— Keith Richards

“You get onstage and make other people feel happy. Make them feel good.”

— Keith Richards

“You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe - and you have the Rolling Stones!”

— Keith Richards

“Another thing to do with the blues is how they were recorded. They were done on the quick, and some of that stuff was made on wire, not even tape, let alone digital.”

— Keith Richards

“Songwriting's a weird game.”

— Keith Richards

“There's no substitute for live work to keep a band together.”

— Keith Richards

“This is the rock 'n' roll life, and you had to invent it as you went along. There was no textbook to say how you operate this machinery.”

— Keith Richards

“When I listen to what I did under the influence - 10 years of work - I don't think it either enhanced or impaired me. It didn't have that much to do with it.”

— Keith Richards