Top 85 Quotes & Sayings by Bernard Sumner - Page 2

I'm sure every time I bring something out that isn't New Order, people say it sounds like New Order.

There were certain things I couldn't do with New Order without upsetting the rest of the band, so I started to write some solo stuff.

I used to be a party monster, very into Acid House, which I saw as my weekend reward for working hard all week.

You don't see yourself in the same way other people see you.

The story of New Order is all about learning from our mistakes.

I'm not interested in how well someone can sing. It's what you're singing that interests me.

Playing live is great, but it's not a creative thing, really. It's a reproductive thing.

I get writer's block all the time. The only way I can write what I consider to be good lyrics is to put myself through the mill.

I was no good at anything else at school. But I was good at one thing, which was creativity.

I'm very proud of New Order and Joy Division, that heritage of songs.

Choosing a name for a band is always a difficult thing, and I don't think people should read too much into a name because, after all, it's just a handle. It doesn't mean anything.

When Joy Division started, I was scared to death of having to get a normal day job.

I saw the Sex Pistols, and they were terrible.

I never met Morrissey.

II'm quite a successful musician, but I'm not sure if it's my vocation.

You spend more time with your fellow band members than your girlfriend or wife, and you end up at each other's throats. It happens to all bands.

If you start off writing an album with a band, the reality is that you're constantly in each other's company, so it's really important that you get on with each other.

Joy Division finished the 1970s on a high. Our debut album, 'Unknown Pleasures,' was doing well; we'd just finished a hugely enjoyable and successful tour. The band's profile was higher than it had ever been, and it seemed to be growing by the day.

If it wasn't for John Peel, there would be no Joy Division and no New Order. He was one of the few people to give bands that played alternative music a chance to get heard, and he continued to be a champion of cutting-edge music throughout his life.

If you go out and just play the old stuff and never write new stuff, you're not really a complete musician, you're a performer.

The words that I'm most happy with are the ones that come from my subconscious rather than my conscious. They just feel right. I think that's the same with music, really. If you're doing an album, there's ten or eleven sets of lyrics, so you get to the point of inspiration ten or eleven times - it's difficult.

You can't put rubbish into a computer and get something good out.

I always felt like there were always egos involved when I was trying to get music finished in New Order. Sometimes it would feel like I was running through water.

I tend to think in images and feelings rather than non-abstract concepts.

People come up to me and say, 'You changed my life.' I don't think I changed anyone's life. I think their life changed while they were listening to the music.