Top 93 Quotes & Sayings by Brian May

I spent 20 years of my life building up Queen, and now I'm spending years of my life trying to get away from it.

There are a lot of things in Queen albums that you don't expect; that's why we threw them in.

There are times when I flick through magazines and think I'm in danger of becoming a prisoner of my own hair.

I never took sheet music seriously. I could do better myself just by listening to other people and using my own intuition.

The Wedding March has a bit of a death march in it.

The music itself is very challenging, so I've never really felt the lack of stimulation. I love to be creating; I love to be making things and solving problems, I suppose, and when I'm not, then I'm not an incredibly good person to be around. If I'm not busy, then I think I would be disaster. That's just the way things are.

Einstein got most of the things right about black holes. I'm not an expert, I must admit.

I think music is about our internal life. It's part of the way people touch each other. That's very precious to me. And astronomy is, in a sense, the very opposite thing. Instead of looking inwards, you are looking out, to things beyond our grasp.

I had this big thing about guitar harmonies. I wanted to be the first to put proper three-part harmonies onto a record. That was an achievement.

I don't surf the net in general. I have someone do it for me instead, because I find it sluggish.

We do play to our audience. It's very important. You can't create music in a vacuum.

I was actually perfectly happy when I had no money, which lasted right up until we had a hit with Killer Queen, in 1974. I never wanted for anything.

I just want to be able to play as fast as my brain goes, and my brain doesn't go all that fast.

Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer.

Everybody thought I was a bit of an eccentric for wanting to be out there looking at the stars, but I still do.

From the beginning of Queen there was such momentum that I never had any time to do anything else. My energy was 95% focused on the band.

Queen songs are not about the life of a rock star - they tend to be about the lives of normal people, which is why I think the songs connect so much. We're very lucky that they seemingly connect with every generation.

In print, people can do anything to you. Everything you do is picked apart. People love it; they're waiting for you to make a mistake.

The guitar was my weapon, my shield to hide behind.

I despise the Lottery. There's less chance of you becoming a millionaire than there is of getting hit on the head by a passing asteroid.

I really thought I was pretty good before I saw Hendrix, and then I thought: Yeah, not so good.

There is no way that you can ever really repeat something. I have this great belief that the magic of the moment can never be recaptured.

It's wonderful for me to see what 'We Will Rock You' has done. 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are the Champions' have kind of transcended the normal framework of where music is listened to and appreciated - they've become part of public life, which I feel wonderful about.

Queen songs tend to be about very personal things: personal dreams and personal ambitions.

I'm not a person for sitting on beaches. What would I do?

The guitar has a kind of grit and excitement possessed by nothing else.

I go through major crises every few months, but then I have great peaks of belief and creativity. I'm a weird kind of animal.

For a time I didn't want to answer any questions about Queen. I'd like to be viewed as something alive and relevant, not some fossil.

At the moment the Queen stuff does sell really well, but there's no guarantee it'll go on forever.

Mantovani was a great influence on me.

There's nothing I'm embarrassed about.

I like to go for a walk or swimming or in the garden when I can. It's a busy kind of life, but I guess I'm lucky.

I'm pretty basic as far as technique is concerned. I don't use many gadgets, and I like the sound my guitar makes, anyway.

The first nine albums there was never a Synthesiser, never any Orchestra. There was never any other player except us on the albums.

The biggest emotion in creation is the bridge to optimism.

Sanctions always hurt the poor, the weak, the children.

Each gig should be unique. You're always treading that line between keeping yourself fresh and giving people something they want to hear.

I don't think anybody comes close to The Beatles, including Oasis.

Every time I listen to Jeff Beck my whole view of guitar changes radically. He's way, way out, doing things you never expect.

My mum says I wanted to be a surgeon, but I don't remember that. I think from the time I knew what was happening, I wanted to be a guitar player.

When I'm gone, people will no doubt remember me for Queen, but I would much rather be remembered for attempting to change the way we treat our fellow creatures.

There's nothing I'm embarrassed about

I'm hopeless at playing scales. Try and be instinctive first and analytic afterwords, although it's good to study the theory of music.

I have to build my own boat this time. It's a big sea out there, and I have a pretty small boat. I have a lot of belief in it.

Sometimes if the guitar is the last thing to go on, it's very fresh.

This man (FreddieMercury) truly possessed the greatest voice in the history of rock. Journalists, culture experts and analysts have already made several hundred comments on this topic and nothing can be added here.

I'm a much better musician than astronomer. I think the world got the right choice.

...I think the popular view of Science is a solid body of truth, shared by a whole lot of learned men in a room, all agreeing on the answers to the questions of how the Universe works. Whereas nothing could be further from the truth!!! The one truth that I see emerging from the History of Science is that experiment has always surprised theorists. Einstein included!

There are times when I've been feeling something and played a solo that I've never been able to repeat.

Each gig should be unique. You're always treading that line between keeping yourself fresh and giving people something they want to hear

I was an incurable romantic then, same as I am now. I was always pining away after somebody

Everybody thought I was a bit of an eccentric for wanting to be out there looking at the stars, but I still do

I think music is about our internal life. It’s part of the way people touch each other. That’s very precious to me. And astronomy is, in a sense, the very opposite thing. Instead of looking inwards, you are looking out, to things beyond our grasp.

Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer

There are a lot of things in Queen albums that you don't expect; that's why we threw them in

On the first few albums the songs would grow into strange shapes.

I tend to be not a person who does everything right all the time.

I'm into paradoxes. I wanted to make an album about them, but the group told me I was a pretentious fart. They were right.

George Harrison was a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous guitarist, and a wonderful example of what a rock star should be. I totally revered him as an innovator. He was always fresh, daring, magnificently melodic, full of spiritual quality, and totally conscious of the chord structure beneath the solo. And he had the courage to play simple. He never took refuge in effects, or tried to impress with speed. I hope he knew how much we all loved and respected him.

What is left of your dream? Just the words on your stone. A man who learned how to teach then forgot how to learn.