Thom Yorke Quotes

“I'm not afraid of computers taking over the world. They're just sitting there. I can hit them with a two by four.”

“Sex is more than an act of pleasure, it’s the ability to be able to feel so close to a person, so connected, so comfortable that it’s almost breathtaking to the point you feel you can’t take it. And at this moment you’re a part of them.”

“Immerse your soul in love”

“I think the most important thing about music is the sense of escape.”

“Dont get sentimental, It always ends up drivel.”

“I don't think young people are as demoralized as the media and government would like us to think. The obvious sign of that is how strong and how close personal connections are and how much people are able to build a life for themselves, despite all this stuff that's been thrown at them.”

“They're dangerous people, and what's really frightening is that they don't know it, they don't see themselves as dangerous… they see the danger elsewhere. The danger is always elsewhere. How convenient.”

“The difference between me and Bono is that he's quite happy to go and flatter people to get what he wants and he's very good at it, but I just can't do it. I'd probably end up punching them in the face rather than shaking their hand, so it's best that I stay out of their way. I can't engage with that level of bullshit. Which is a shame, really, and in a way it would help if I could, but I just can't. I admire the fact that Bono can, and can walk away from it smelling of roses.”

“wish us all a safe journey if you still like us and you're not one of those people i have managed to offend by doing nothing”

“The thing that worries me about the computer age is the fact that people know so much about you. It's an incredible invasion of privacy. And no matter where you are in the world people can monitor you if you're using your credit card. I heard this weird rumor on the Internet about how the military is funding this great big research project and basically, they believe that in the future, the balance of power won't be determined by who has the most nuclear weapons, but by who has all the information. I'm not afraid of being taken over by computers though, because the thing is, computers cannot resist. You can always smash 'em up, and they're totally defenseless. All we need are more people with hammers.”

“You are my centre when I spin away.”

“So how come it looks so beautiful?
How come the moon falls from the sky?”

“Did I fall or was I pushed?
Did I fall or was I pushed?
And where's the blood?”

“You've got some nerve, coming here”

“One little leak becomes a lake,
Says the tiny voice in my earpiece”

“While you make pretty speeches
I'm being cut to shreds
You feed me to the lions
A delicate balance”

“Sometimes the nicest thing to do with a guitar is just look at it.”

“I'm not a vegetable,
I will not control myself.”

“In a fast German car
I'm amazed that I survived
An airbag saved my life”

“You used to be alright
What happened?”

“Q: Radiohead fans tend to be extremely devoted to the band - they seem to connect with your music and ideals. What do you see as the major aspects of your music which people connect with so well?
A: To be really truthful I don't see it myself. When we play something new, we don't know how people will react. If I show an idea to the rest of the band I'm terrified if they will respond or not. They are the same. It always amazes me how complex this remains. There was a time when we could make the correct moves and the required response. And that was the time when the shine started to fade. Do people connect with our ideals? I dont know, surely encouraging people to make informed decisions is more useful? ignorance is the biggest problem isnt it? we are no purer than anyone else, no smarter. Equally we are not little rag dolls you play with but say nothing and go back in the box when you're finished with us.”

“For a minute there
I lost myself”

“What was that you tried to say?”

“I keep the wolf from the door
But he calls me up
Calls me on the phone
Tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up
Steal all my children
If I don't pay the ransom
And I'll never see 'em again
If I squeal to the cops”

“We're at a time when we are being presented with undeniable changes in the global climate and fundamental issues that affect every single one of us, and it's the time we're listening to the most hokey shite on the radio and watching vacuous bullshit celebrities being vacuous bullshit celebrities and desperately trying to forget about everything. Which is fine, you know, but personally speaking, I can't do that.”

“Jumped in the river, what did I see?
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moonful of stars and astral cars
And all the figures I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt”

“I'm not here
This isn't happening”

“Avoid all eye contact
Do not react
Shoot the messengers
This is a low-flying panic attack”

“It's the devil's way now
There is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now”

“Different types of love
are possible”

“So far, this is disco.”

“Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking and squealing gucci little piggy”

“(on his inability to read music) "If someone lays the notes on a page in front of me, it's meaningless…because to me you can't express the rhythms properly like that. It's a very ineffective way of doing it, so I've never really bothered picking it up."”

“The video of 'Paranoid Android' has been censored by MTV. They took all nipples out of the cartoon, but they had no problem with the scene in which a man cuts off his own arms and legs.”

“I wouldn't be involved with it [pop music] if I wasn't aware that it was going to be a product. I always wanted whatever I did to end up in the high street, no matter what it was, because to me, there isn't anywhere else to go. It's pointless.”

“Q: Does commercial success matter to you?”

“I live in a town, where you can't smell a thing”

“Far up above, aliens hover
Making home movies for the folks back home
Of all these weird creatures that lock up their spirits
Drill holes in themselves and live for their secrets”

“Drying up in conversation,
You will be the one who cannot talk,
All your insides fall to pieces,
You just sit there wishing you could still make love.”

“I am fused, just in case I blow out. I am glued, just in case I crack out.”

“Don't get any big ideas,
They're not gonna happen.”

“I'll take a quiet life
And a handshake of carbon monoxide
And no alarms and no surprises”

“I can't take their pressure
No one cares if you live or die
They just want me gone
They want me gone”

“We're not scare-mongering
This is really happening”

“She looks like the real thing,
She tastes like the real thing,
My fake plastic love.
But I can't help the feeling,
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turned and ran.”

“So knives out
Catch the mouse
Squash his head
Put him in the pot”

“It annoys me how pretty my voice is…that sounds incredibly immodest, but it annoys me how polite it can sound when perhaps what I'm singing is deeply acidic.”

“The more you try to erase me
The more, the more
The more that I appear”

“There's nothing more boring than a rock'n'roll star, someone who has been on the road for 10 years, expecting attention wherever he goes, drinking himself stupid, who is obnoxious, incoherent, uncreative and has a massive ego. There's nothing more pointless.”

“At a better pace
Slower and more calculated
No chance of escape”

“Everyone has got the fear
It's holding on
Holding on”

“You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking.”

“Her green plastic watering can
For a fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth.”

“How come I end up where I started?
How come I end up where I went wrong?”

“I grew up under Thatcher. I grew up believing that I was fundamentally powerless. Then gradually over the years it occurred to me that this was actually a very convenient myth for the state.”

“I'm an animal trapped in your hot car.”

“When I go forwards, you go backwards
And somewhere we will meet”

“We are accidents waiting
Waiting to happen”

“And I'm sorry for us
The dinosaurs roam the earth
The sky turns green”

“Don't walk the plank like I did
You will be dispensed with
When you've become
Inconvenient”

“In an interstellar burst
I am back to save the universe”