Quotes By Phil Collins

Many people think of me as a perfectionist, someone who polishes and shines each song and performance. I've always been bothered by that assumption.

It's always been easy with Mark, he's a rock fan and we speak the same language. He's a big Beatles fan too. We worked a lot via CLI calls, though only meeting up once every couple of months.

I grew up in the day when the Beatles sold 1 million singles in a week. And all you've got to do now is sell about 10,000 singles and you're in the charts.

My only saving grace is that I actually collect things that nobody else is interested in.

I can't play anywhere near like I used to, and I was a hot drummer. It doesn't bother me, because frankly, if you get to that point where you can't hold a drumstick properly, there are many other things in life which are far more important, like cutting a loaf of bread or a piece of cheese.

No seriously... when there's families, you tend to go back to your room after the gig rather than go for a drink with the other guys. But there's always someone who's got something going, like the tour manager.

Beyond a certain point, the music isn't mine anymore. It's yours.

I've bought pretty much every book ever written about the Alamo, and I talk to my friends that I've made over the past 15, 20 years. It's just a constant learning and fascinating thing for me.

I'm sorry that it was all so successful. I honestly didn't mean it to happen like that. It's hardly surprising that people grew to hate me.

'Urban Renewal' was sweet because I've been - unfairly, I would say - plonked in the middle of the road because of a handful of songs. It came at a good time for me, because you do take a bit of a browbeating and, as you get older, you become better at accepting it and realizing why it happens.

To be honest, producing records interests me less at the moment and I really don't want to get involved in album projects that are going to take up a lot of time.

When we're touring America or Europe, we use our own plane and a great advantage of that is it cuts out an awful lot of time checking in. You literally drive up to the plane, get on and then drive off at the other end.

You know, a song is like a kid. You bring it up. And sometimes something you thought was going to be fantastic, by the time it's finished, is a bit of a disappointment.

In 1977 we played America and Europe three times, and Japan - my marriage suffered as a result. My then wife took the kids to Canada to be near her parents.

I just don't think of myself as a star. This is what I do for a living; I'm fortunate that I make ends meet.

I don't really belong to that world and I don't think anyone's going to miss me. I'm much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely.

Another time, we had three days off in Australia, so we went out of our way to fly to Ayres Rock.

In Genesis we saw ourselves as song-writers. After Peter Gabriel left I was the first to say: 'It's OK - we can just do instrumentals.'

Many of the articles printed over the last few months have ended up painting a picture of me that is more than a little distorted.

I'm usually going to make a record, finish a record, start a record or start a tour or between tours.

And I would like to marry and have more children. I would like to try and do it right.

When I go on Japanese Airlines, I really love it because I like Japanese food.

Yes, I am aware that I have become a caricature. I've thought about this. Conceptually, what I'd like to do is the equivalent of writing myself out of the script.

The day Tarzan opened in London, I sat in a hotel room and discussed the project in detail.

I joined Genesis when I was 19. I've earned the right to actually do nothing. I don't want to be a shadow of what I was, so I've kind of just quite willingly stood back.

You know, I've released some great records and I've released some dogs. But frankly, the fun is in creating the thing.

The world is in your hands, now use it.

If Miles Davis hadn't died it would have been interesting to do an album with him, but there wasn't much else that would have got me into the studio... although Herbie Hancock has just been in touch about doing something and that would be an interesting combination.

I don't really listen to music.

We stayed in some pretty shabby places in Europe.