Elton John Quotes

I’ve always wanted to smash a guitar over someone’s head. You just can’t do that with a piano.

I have a lot of money stashed away, but I do live my life from day to day.

I’m very relaxed. I have a family, I have a partner of 20 years, I have a wonderful life; nothing could be better.

An agent is a person who is sore because an actor gets 90% of what they make.

But you know, I have a pretty good relationship with the press and the paparazzi. It’s just when they step over the line that, you know, enough’s enough.

The thing about Vegas is, I don’t have to fly anywhere, and that really helps. It means I stay in one place for three weeks at a time instead of flying backwards and forwards.

And there’s no guarantee that if you get HIV and you take these triple therapies, or whatever comes along next, that they’re going to be successful for you.

Bands today have to learn their craft by putting the hard work in that we did when we were young performers.

I’m addicted to working. I mean, I have a list of 100 countries I want to play in. I’m basically killing myself by travelling so much, for no reason whatsoever.

I am such a Luddite when it comes to making music. All I can do is write at the piano.

Simon Cowell and I are great friends, and we wind each other up. Rod Stewart and I do the same thing.

I’m very generous.

And I agreed with that, and I couldn’t wait to change my name anyway, because I’m not too fond of the name of Reginald. It’s a very kind of ’50s English name.

There’s no pressure for me to go out there and say, I’ve got to have a top 40 hit because it’s not going to happen.

I love every minute of fatherhood, staying up all night, changing nappies, kids crying, I find it really funny and inspiring. It connects you to the world in a new way.

I went to a mixed school and I can’t remember being bullied at school, ever. I was quite large, in those days. Usually, if you’re going to be a bully, you’ll pick on someone who is small. I didn’t bully anybody, and I don’t remember being bullied.

Who really needs a new album from me?

The whole point of being in this business and being blessed and being successful is that you’re able to do things for your friends or your family, which means that they can have something special in their lives, too.

For me, music is so passionate, I have to give it my all every time I go onstage. Onstage, it was always comfortable for me, because that’s where I felt at home.

I’ve had an amazing professional life, personal life, but at 64 to have a son who gives us that much love and enjoyment is, wow!

At heart I’ve always been a music fan. That part of me has never changed since I was a little kid, sitting in a room watching a record go round, looking at the colour of the labels.

There’s a lot of hate in the world.

The worst thing you can do to a child, and I’ve seen it happen so many times, is the silver spoon.

I never really made a full album in Los Angeles before.

Fame attracts lunatics.

Well, I’m a huge fan of Ryan Adams, who’s from North Carolina. And he’s beginning to break really quite big.

Once I’d heard ‘Modern Times’ by Bob Dylan, it really changed the way I wanted to make records.

And the danger is – and it’s happening – is we’re seeing an incredibly big rise amongst young gay people, young heterosexual people as far as catching HIV, which is, you know, in an educated country like this or in Britain, it’s frightening.

I grew up at my grandmother’s house, and she had a beautiful garden. I used to hate mowing the lawn and weeding, which is what you do when you’re a kid. I loathe gardening, but I love gardens, and I have two beautiful gardens.

I loathe gardening, but I love gardens, and I have two beautiful gardens. I can not bear gardening, but I love gardens.

I’ve got that resilient thing inside me. But I wasn’t a happy bunny.

Well, I’ve had my fair share in Britain of battling the tabloids.

I tour as many countries as possible, and I’ve toured every state in America, plus every province in Canada.

I do work a lot. I mean, most of my income, I would say, comes from live performances. And then you’ve got publishing, you’ve got record royalties.

I grew up at my grandmother’s house and she had a beautiful garden. I used to hate mowing the lawn and weeding, which is what you do when you’re a kid.

It’s just so wonderful to have someone in the house like a child to turn your attention to. It’s not about you anymore, it’s about this lovely little human being.

I just go into the studio, look at the lyrics for the first time when I put them on the piano, and go. If I haven’t got it within 40 minutes, I give up. It’s never changed, the thrill has never gone, because I don’t know what I’m going to get next.

Yeah. I have been with David Furnish for eight years, now.

I do like my rock stars to be a little larger than life. I don’t mind the earnest ones at all, but I do like a bit of individuality.

When I say I don’t have to write pop songs anymore, there’s no way I’m going to get on the radio at 60 years of age unless I’m doing a duet with Gaga or I was on ‘All of the Lights,’ which was a Kanye West record that managed to get on the radio.

I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life. I love the food. I love the people. I love the attitudes of Italians.

Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving.

Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don’t know what makes people so cruel.

I’m so proud to be on a Kate Bush record; she’s always marched to the beat of her own drum.

Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.

I’ve never been jealous of anybody’s success. I’ve been flummoxed by it because I don’t understand it, but I’m not jealous of it.

I am the biggest technophobe of all time.

When your persona begins to take over your music and becomes more important, you enter a dangerous place. Once you have people around you who don’t question you, you’re in a dangerous place.

I grew up conservative because my mum was a conservative, and when I finally realized what conservatives were, I changed my mind immediately.

I’ve never had a writer’s block, but still I think: ‘Is it going to happen this time?’ You never know what you’re going to get; you just put your fingers on the keys and hope.

If there is a better singer in England than Craig David, then I am Margaret Thatcher.

My mum always used to buy a record every Friday.

If I was to say what I am, I’d be a Labour man. I like Tony Blair a lot, I think he’s a good man. And in America I’d definitely be a Democrat; I’d never be a Republican.

And I’m afraid, in this day and age, trust, which I count so, you know, I love loyalty. I love trust.

I grew up conservative because my mum was a conservative, and when I finally realized what conservatives were, I changed my mind immediately. As children, we tend to copy our parents.

I’ve got a great collection of photography.

When Little Richard used to stand up and play it was just fabulous, and Liberace had the candlesticks and the rings and the gift of the gab. The piano’s is the most ungainly rock’ n’ roll instrument of all time but those two people transcended it, as did Jerry Lee Lewis.

I have a much better relationship with the press than I did, I think because I stood my ground.

I don’t have to compete in the charts. I can just be myself as a musician, a songwriter and play with the musicians that I really love.

When people go to rehab and come out, they go through a difficult period, but I never had that.

As Elton John, my days on pop radio are over, and I know that and I accept it and I’m not unhappy about it.

People with HIV are still stigmatized. The infection rates are going up. People are dying. The political response is appalling. The sadness of it, the waste.

There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex.

As a child, as a teenager, I was kind of not allowed to wear fashionable clothes.

I’m a great lover of children. I never thought that one day I’d actually be a father, but I’m very pleased that I changed my mind. Children are extremely important. They are the future of the world.

Well, I was making a record, and I had to choose a name, because they said, you know, you can’t make a record under the name of Reg Dwight, because it’s never going to – you know, it’s not attractive enough.