Ronnie Wood Quotations

I go off into Dublin and two days later I'm spotted walking by the Liffey with a whole bunch of new friends.

I am a big fan of the Impressionists, and in my school days, I was inspired by Caravaggio, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

There's a basic rule which runs through all kinds of music, kind of an unwritten rule. I don't know what it is. But I've got it.

I'm a diplomat by nature. I help find the middle ground. I crack a joke and use humour to help resolve potentially vicious situations quickly. It gets things in perspective and helps everyone to see that things aren't as bad as they seem.

People often get the wrong impression of Mick. The clever businessman is just one side of Mick. The other side is the same as the rest of us, a true rocker!

Amazing, the poisons I used to put in my body. I used to love it.

I'm a Gemini, so I have a great time with the other guy.

Most white Americans only discovered the blues with the British invasion.

I find it hard to get old and hard to say, 'No.'

Having loved the Stones all the time I was growing up, I wasn't about to see them go and split up. It got very close to it in the 80s, when Mick thought that Keith hated him and vice versa.

I think people are just creative, and this can be expressed in a number of ways. Bob Dylan and David Bowie create both music and art.

The last show we played, I was straight as a die. It did feel weird not to be hiding behind alcohol or dope, but being focused was... good.

When I'm left on my own I'm my own worst enemy.

It's an awful world out there. You've got to make people happy.

I just think my body can't handle it any more. I did try a little drink a while back, and I was actually physically ill. I went into an immediate depression, and felt awful, just dreadful. So that's it. I'm over it now.

I have been rich, and I have been broke. Some of it is my fault for choosing bad management and making bad investments. But that is life - we all take risks.

Let's face it: I paint well. I know it, you know it. There's no arguing really, is there?

I tried to emulate my favourite guitar players, the old bluesmen like Blind Willie McTell and Big Bill Broonzy. I used to sit by the record player and copy Chuck Berry and the Beatles. You can never copy someone completely, so you end up developing your own style.

We're great, Jo and me. We're pals, and I guess sex has a lot to do with it. She's also brilliant at clearing a room. So protective, so devoted. I can't believe how much she loves me.

It's good fun, making a solo album, because there's perhaps songs that wouldn't get used for the Stones or any other kind of outfit that I'm working with. It's just nice to be the boss.

What can I say, I'm an alcoholic. It's what I do.

All my life there's always been an ex-wife or a girlfriend.

I still feel 29. Maybe I should act my age more, but I just can't.

Songs are out there - they're waiting to be grabbed. I start with a phrase, musical and lyrical, words like 'I don't think so' and a nice riff. It rolls from there.

I love to go to Ireland just to relax.

I love to get into a landscape and paint my horses.

I'm terrible with money, absolutely awful. I'm always losing it.

I'm still digging long-established bands like U2 - they're new to me!

I like it when journalists are nice to me, and it's happening more and more.

When I get intimate with my paintings, it's a real good spiritual thing to get off my chest. Same as playing the instruments is a great release.

We do things on an exchange basis in the music business - it keeps the wheels turning. That's how I can get people like Slash, Flea and Kris Kristofferson on my album. Collaboration should be done through trades rather than charging each other a fortune.

My dad lived till he was 78, my mum was in her 80s, and I've got two uncles who are in their 90s now.

My real self is probably more creative and more frightening than any sort of drink or drug-induced state.

All my family back to the 1700s were water Gypsies. My brothers and me, we were the first ones to be born on dry land. All the rest of them were born on barges in the canals.

They say you can smoke 400 cigs a day and drink 20 cups of coffee, but you can't have a line or a drink again.

I had a fiery affair with George Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd.

When I first saw Jo, I said boom, that was it, because I'm a one-woman man.

I used to worry, 'I've lost my family.' They hated me for a while, but they're very resilient.

I've always thrived on getting a drive from different emotional circumstances that I'm going through.

Nowadays you can record on your laptop with Pro Tools, which I do quite often.

Mick has expressed an interest in coming to the gallery tonight because he's seen me behaving myself lately. He is being much more supportive, which is nice.

We got touring with the Stones, and people were trying to keep up with Keith. He's like a human machine with a constitution of iron, and they all thought they could do the same.

Regina Spektor is great. I can't wait to see what more she's capable of.

Maybe Mick's a bit happier now he's been knighted.

I have a life coach out with me on tour, a very nice guy from L.A. He just prepares me for each day.

We're at our best when Keith and Mick (are/aren't) getting along, ... As songwriters, they seem to be at their most creative when there's (harmony/tension). Go figure!

The only exercise Keith does is lifting the bottle to the mouth.

During the Eighties, when I was hurting for money, I thought, 'Hang on a minute - I can paint.' I was living in New York and I thought it would get the grocery money coming in, and it escalated from there.

The blues echoes right through into soul, R&B and hip hop. It's part of the make-up of modern music. You can't turn your back on the blues.

I'm thrilled to be in South Florida for our tour and to open the first gallery exhibit this year. It's a great turn-out and I look forward to speaking with the collectors who have shown me such great support over the years.

I'm more lost when I'm not on tour. I'm in a bit of a muddle at nine o'clock - 'Where's the stage?' On tour, there are people directing and supervising you.

It's taken folk a while to come around, hasn't it? Even the boys in the band weren't too sure about the whole art thing. They just wanted me to concentrate on the music. But they respect it now.

You don't make solo albums to have hits.

In my family, they were all big boozers.

I always want to rock.

Married life is absolutely brilliant.

We'll rock till we drop. We have all agreed this won't be the last time. Everyone's rocking.

I have a life coach out with me on tour, a very nice guy from L.A. He just prepares me for each day.

Back in those days, all us skinny white British kids were trying to look cool and sound black. And there was Hendrix, the ultimate in black cool. Everything he did was natural and perfect.

I have a lot of growing up to do. But I think, 'Hell, is it too late?'

The blues echoes right through into soul, R&B and hip hop. It's part of the make-up of modern music. You can't turn your back on the blues.

With every gig we have to prove ourselves better than the night before.

I can't be left unsupervised.

All of us can't wait to get out there whatever way.

During the Eighties, when I was hurting for money, I thought, 'Hang on a minute - I can paint.' I was living in New York and I thought it would get the grocery money coming in, and it escalated from there.

When I first started all this, it was mostly music fans that came along, Stones fans. But now, I'm being taken seriously. I've got highfalutin art collectors and everything!

I will miss a good friend who was so talanted. He was such agreat performer/ guitar player. Sleep well Prince.