Nico Quotes

Christa Päffgen , better known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer-songwriter, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress who became famous as a Warhol superstar in the 1960s.

She is known for her vocals on the Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico , and her work as a solo artist. She also had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls .

✵ 16. October 1938 – 18. July 1988
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Nico: 15   quotes 0   likes

Famous Nico Quotes

“I don't have a sense of time. Time is timeless to me, and I'm not in a hurry to get older. I mean, if I were worried about time, all the time, it would be terrible.”

Her response when asked about her sense of rhythm in songwriting, as quoted in Life and Lies of an Icon (1995) by Richard Witts.

Nico Quotes about time

“You could say it like was like a fairy tale at the time; Andy would be the good fairy, and Jim would play the giant, Brian would be the witch, Paul McCartney would be the frog who turns into a prince, no, it would have to be the other way round.”

Describing her tumultuous experiences of 1967, as quoted in Life and Lies of an Icon (1995) by Richard Witts.
Context: You could say it like was like a fairy tale at the time; Andy would be the good fairy, and Jim would play the giant, Brian would be the witch, Paul McCartney would be the frog who turns into a prince, no, it would have to be the other way round. Well, it didn't seem like a fairy tale at the time. It was a lot of hassle. But I learned a lot of things, and I began to compose my own songs.

“I would say the time has not yet come. I rebel against the present, whenever it is, because I have not seen any change, other than oppositions grow stronger.”

On the decade which she fit in best, as quoted in Life and Lies of an Icon (1995) by Richard Witts.
Context: I would say the time has not yet come. I rebel against the present, whenever it is, because I have not seen any change, other than oppositions grow stronger. I would be a communist if it was more anarchist. Otherwise, I see only everything as an absurdity, so I can laugh and cry. I have lived in a continuation, from birth and growing towards death in a chain that cannot end. I don't see this decade then that decade. The same things happen in different guises. I am bohemian but at one time you would call me a hippie or a punk. I remain a bohemian whatever you call me. So maybe I am locked in the fifties. But I have never desired to grow up from my world as a child, which is when things are most clear and utopian. They are clear because you are at the center and you see all around you. When you get older you lose your sight … I lost something of my childishness when people around me start dying. Four of my family died within a year.

“I have a habit of leaving places at the wrong time, just when something big may have happened for me.”

As quoted in Up-tight: the Velvet Underground story (2002) by Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga.

Nico Quotes

“The same things happen in different guises.”

On the decade which she fit in best, as quoted in Life and Lies of an Icon (1995) by Richard Witts.
Context: I would say the time has not yet come. I rebel against the present, whenever it is, because I have not seen any change, other than oppositions grow stronger. I would be a communist if it was more anarchist. Otherwise, I see only everything as an absurdity, so I can laugh and cry. I have lived in a continuation, from birth and growing towards death in a chain that cannot end. I don't see this decade then that decade. The same things happen in different guises. I am bohemian but at one time you would call me a hippie or a punk. I remain a bohemian whatever you call me. So maybe I am locked in the fifties. But I have never desired to grow up from my world as a child, which is when things are most clear and utopian. They are clear because you are at the center and you see all around you. When you get older you lose your sight … I lost something of my childishness when people around me start dying. Four of my family died within a year.

“It is better to be addicted to opium than to be addicted to money.”

On her "soul brother" Jim Morrison, as quoted in Life and Lies of an Icon (1995) by Richard Witts.
Context: I think he was the first man I met who was not afraid of me in some way. We were very similar, like brother and sister. Our spirits are similar. We were the same height and the same age, almost … He was well read and he introduced me to William Blake and also the English Romantic poets who came after him. Jim liked Shelley. I preferred Coleridge. In fact, he is my favoured poet of all time. Did you know they were all drug addicts? Coleridge was addicted to opium. It is better to be addicted to opium than to be addicted to money.

“I think he was the first man I met who was not afraid of me in some way. We were very similar, like brother and sister. Our spirits are similar.”

On her "soul brother" Jim Morrison, as quoted in Life and Lies of an Icon (1995) by Richard Witts.
Context: I think he was the first man I met who was not afraid of me in some way. We were very similar, like brother and sister. Our spirits are similar. We were the same height and the same age, almost … He was well read and he introduced me to William Blake and also the English Romantic poets who came after him. Jim liked Shelley. I preferred Coleridge. In fact, he is my favoured poet of all time. Did you know they were all drug addicts? Coleridge was addicted to opium. It is better to be addicted to opium than to be addicted to money.

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