Quotes By Bono

But more than anything else, for the British folks Irish people were all terrorists. So when we went to Britain, it was always a lot of resistance to U2. And that's why we came to America.

I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music and that's what makes them extraordinary.

Anyone that's involved in development has discovered that all the good work that's been done in development has been undone by the AIDS emergency.

U2 is an original species... there are colours and feelings and emotional terrain that we occupy that is ours and ours alone.

You see, Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice. It makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties. It doubts our concern. It questions our commitment. Because there is no way we can look at what's happening in Africa, and if we're honest, conclude that it would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else.

We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.

The extraction of oil, coal and minerals brought, and still brings, a cost to the environment.

The less you know, the more you believe.

Africa is a continent in flames. And deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We're standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

So you cannot, as a Christian, walk away from Africa.

I am, as a character, at times, a little overbearing. I recognize that.

Selling out is doing something you don't really want to do for money. That's what selling out is.

As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both.

America is not just a country, it's an idea, and real Americans are getting busy.

Rock 'n' roll is ridiculous. It's absurd. In the past, U2 was trying to duck that. Now we're wrapping our arms around it and giving it a great big kiss.

Happy the country that lives on nothing but its wits; cursed be the one that thinks it can get rich by planting or digging or drilling for wealth.

To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.

Music can change the world because it can change people.

The French are so into themselves that they don't even notice you.

When a nation is over-reliant on one or two commodities like oil or precious minerals, corrupt government ministers and their dodgy associates hoard profits and taxes instead of properly allocating them to schools and hospitals.

My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.

You see, idealism detached from action is just a dream. But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making the world bend a bit, is very exciting. It's very real. It's very strong.

I'm never nervous.

Because you know when you first become famous, you start walking a little different because people are staring at you.

Books! I dunno if I ever told you this, but books are the greatest gift one person can give another.

The great moments of rock 'n' roll were never off in some corner of the music world, in a self-constructed ghetto.

Ethiopia didn't just blow my mind; it opened my mind. Anyway, on our last day at this orphanage a man handed me his baby and said, 'Would you take my son with you?' He knew, in Ireland, that his son would live, and that in Ethiopia, his son would die.

Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to anything is what has made me the megalomaniac that you see today.

Celebrity is ridiculous and silly and it's mad that people like me are listened to - you know, rap stars and movie stars.

U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don't really know what we're doing and when we do, it doesn't seem to help.