Morrissey Quotes

Steven Patrick Morrissey , known mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer, songwriter and author. He came to prominence as the frontman of the Smiths, a rock band active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, Morrissey has had a solo career, making the top ten of the UK Singles Chart on ten occasions and reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart thrice.

Born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, to a working-class Irish migrant family, Morrissey grew up in Manchester. As a child he developed a love of literature, kitchen sink realism, and pop music. Involved in Manchester's punk rock scene during the late 1970s, he fronted the Nosebleeds, with little success. Beginning a career in music journalism, he authored several books on music and film in the early 1980s. With Johnny Marr he formed the Smiths in 1982, soon attracting national recognition for their eponymous debut album. As the band's frontman, Morrissey attracted attention for his baritone voice, witty and sardonic lyrics, and idiosyncratic appearance; deliberately avoiding rock machismo, he cultivated the aesthetic of a social outsider who eschewed drugs and embraced celibacy. The Smiths released three further studio albums—Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead, and Strangeways, Here We Come—and had a string of hit singles. Personal differences between Morrissey and Marr resulted in the termination of the band in 1987.

In 1988, Morrissey launched his solo career with Viva Hate. This album and its follow-ups—Kill Uncle, Your Arsenal, and Vauxhall and I—all did well on the UK Albums Chart and spawned multiple hit singles. During this time his image began to shift into that of a burlier figure, who toyed with patriotic imagery and working-class masculinity. In the mid-to-late 1990s, his albums Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted, also charted but were less well received. Relocating to Los Angeles, he took a musical hiatus from 1998 to 2003 before releasing a successful comeback album, You Are the Quarry, in 2004. Ensuing years saw the release of albums Ringleader of the Tormentors, Years of Refusal, and World Peace Is None of Your Business. He released his autobiography in 2013, followed by his first novel in 2015. His eleventh solo studio album, Low in High School, was released in 2017.

Highly influential, Morrissey has been credited as a seminal figure in the emergence of indie rock and Britpop. Acclaimed as one of the greatest lyricists in British history, his lyrics have become the subject of academic study. He has courted controversy with his forthright opinions—endorsing vegetarianism and animal rights, criticising royalty and prominent politicians, and defending a particular vision of English national identity. In a 2006 poll for the BBC's The Culture Show, Morrissey was voted the second-greatest living British cultural icon.

✵ 22. May 1959   •   Other names Steven Patrick Morrissey
Morrissey photo
Morrissey: 95   quotes 29   likes

Famous Morrissey Quotes

“The brain speculates but the heart knows.”

Autobiography

“It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind.”

from the 1986 song "I Know It's Over"
From songs

“Age shouldn't affect you. It's just like the size of your shoes - they don't determine how you live your life! You're either marvellous or you're boring, regardless of your age.”

from "The cradle snatchers", article by Frank Worrall, Melody Maker (3 September 1983)
In interviews etc., About life and death

“There is no such thing in life as normal”

Ref: en.wikiquote.org - Lauretta Bender / Quotes / 1954 Senate Subcommittee Hearings into Juvenile Delinquency, "Testimony of Dr. Lauretta Bender, senior psychiatrist, Belleveu hospital Newyork N.Y." http://www.thecomicbooks.com/bender.html
From songs

“I can smell burning flesh … and I hope to God it's human.”

"… midway through his performance, he was overcome with fumes from the backstage barbecue." - Tim Jonze Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/20/morrissey-coachella-meat-fumes/. Live at Coachella festival, California (2009)
In Concert

Morrissey Quotes about thinking

Morrissey Quotes about people

“Lots of people make the stage and it can seem very violent and over the top, but it's not really. It's always a kind of gentle ballet.”

From "LA Confidential", interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Mojo (April 2001)
In interviews etc., About himself and his work

“That's why I do this music business thing, it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up.”

From the TV documentary The Importance of Being Morrissey (2003)
In interviews etc., About himself and his work

“Most people keep their brains between their legs”

From the song "Such a Little Thing Makes Such a Big Difference"
From songs

“In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?”

from the 1984 song "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
From songs

Morrissey: Trending quotes

“I know I've reached the stage where other artists would bleach their hair or buy a fancy costume, but, inexcusably, I can only be me, which is a full-time occupation and causes terrible backaches.”

From "I’ll astonish you", interview by Len Brown, Details (March 1991).
In interviews etc., About himself and his work

“Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?
I dunno…”

From the song "Still Ill"
From songs

Morrissey Quotes

“I left my fingerprints somewhere - that's good enough. I am my own person - that's good enough. I stand my ground - that's good enough.”

From the TV documentary The Importance of Being Morrissey (2003)
In interviews etc., About himself and his work

“I find Christmas very difficult”

Morrissey's reply to a fan's question "What do you think of Christmas?" at Earl's Court 18th December 2004[citation needed]
In Concert

“I say a lot of things I don’t mean.”

interview by Andrew Harrison, Word Magazine (June 2003)
In interviews etc., About interviews

“Why pamper life's complexity when the leather runs smooth on the passenger's seat?”

from the 1984 song "This Charming Man"
From songs

“Jools Holland: "Knock Knock!"
Morrissey: "I'm not in!"
Jools: "Oh, come on."
Morrissey: "I refuse to open the door."”

On Later With Jools Holland (21 May 2004)
About the Notre Dame fire, Odds & Ends

“There's more to life than books you know, but not much more”

from the song "Handsome Devil"
From songs

“DK: Have you ever been to a rave?
M: Rave is the refuge for the mentally deficient. It's made by dull people for dull people.”

from "Homme alone 2" by David Keeps, Details (December 1992)
About the Notre Dame fire, Odds & Ends

“The reports of my death have been greatly understated.”

from "Message from Morrissey," True To You http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_130131_01 (31 January 2013). Twist on a quote by Mark Twain.
In interviews etc., About life and death

“I suppose you have work tomorrow? That's quite sad, really.”

live in Claremont, CA (1997)[citation needed]
In Concert

“It's the nicest birthday I've ever had. You've made a happy man very old.”

From Who Put The 'M' In Manchester? (2004)
In Concert

“I can't believe I'm 29. Where did the years go? Why did the years go?”

From Who Put The 'M' In Manchester? (2004)
In Concert

“Not everybody is absolutely stupid. Why on earth would I be racist, what would I be trying to achieve?”

From the TV documentary The Importance of Being Morrissey (2003)
In interviews etc., About himself and his work

“I could never really make the connection between Christian and Catholic. I always imagined that Christ would look down upon the Catholic church and totally disassociate himself from it. I went to severe schools, working class schools, where they would almost chop your fingers off for your own good, and if you missed church on Sunday and went to school on a Monday and they quizzed you on it, you'd be sent to the gallows. It was like 'Brush you teeth NOW or you will DIE IN HELL and you will ROT and all these SNAKES will EAT you'. And I remember all these religious figures, statues, which used to petrify every living child. All these snakes trodden underfoot and blood everywhere. I thought it was so morbid. I mean the very idea of just going to church anyway is really quite absurd. I always felt that it was really like the police, certainly in this country at any rate, just there to keep the working classes humble and in their place. Because of course nobody else but the working class pays any attention to it. I really feel quite sick when I see the Pope giving long, overblown, inflated lectures on nuclear weapons and then having tea with Margaret Thatcher. To me it's total hypocrisy. And when I hear the Pope completely condemning working class women for having abortions and condemning nobody else… to me the whole thing is entirely class ridden, it's just really to keep the working classes in perpetual fear and feeling total guilt.”

from "All men have secrets and these are Morrissey’s", interview by Neil McCormick,Hot Press (4 May 1984)
In interviews etc., About life and death

“I don't perform. Seals perform.”

From an interview with Russell Brand in December 2006, also quoted in the March 2007 issue of Uncut.
In interviews etc., About himself and his work

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