Top 169 Quotes & Sayings by Keith Richards

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English musician Keith Richards.

Last updated on November 21, 2024.

Keith Richards, often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as Keith Richard, is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership with Mick Jagger is one of the most successful in history. His career spans over six decades, and his guitar playing style has been a trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the band's career. Richards gained press notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and he was often portrayed as a countercultural figure.

English - Musician | Born: December 18, 1943

Source: Wikipedia

The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.

Keith Richards

Another thing to do with the blues is how they were recorded. They were done on the quick, and some of that stuff was made on wire, not even tape, let alone digital.

Keith Richards

When I listen to what I did under the influence - 10 years of work - I don't think it either enhanced or impaired me. It didn't have that much to do with it.

Keith Richards

It's an addiction... and addiction is something I should know something about.

Keith Richards

I have no idea what the audience makes of me.

Keith Richards

To make a rock'n'roll record, technology is the least important thing.

Keith Richards

I don't trust doctors. It's not to say there ain't some good ones, but on a general level, no, I wouldn't trust 'em at all.

Keith Richards

About myself I have no great illusions. I know what I am. I know what I'm good at. I know what I ain't. I'm always hoping to surprise myself. But I do have a love of music and I do love to communicate it, and that's the best I can do, really. And I can raise a good family, too.

Keith Richards

Everybody's got a different way of telling a story - and has different stories to tell.

Keith Richards

It's good to be anywhere.

Keith Richards

You get onstage and make other people feel happy. Make them feel good.

Keith Richards

Hey, we just enjoy it. I think we think we're getting the hang of this thing, you know?

Keith Richards

There's no substitute for live work to keep a band together.

Keith Richards

I've never had my hair cut by anybody, I do it all myself.

Keith Richards

You've got the sun, you've got the moon, and you've got the Rolling Stones.

Keith Richards

I mean some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to their funeral.

Keith Richards

You don't start to play your guitar thinking you're going to be running an organisation that will maybe generate millions.

Keith Richards

If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use both feet.

Keith Richards

And it was a very, very fruitful and great relationship between the Stones and The Beatles. It was very, very friendly.

Keith Richards

Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen.

Keith Richards

The Stones in a club is still the ultimate rush.

Keith Richards

The Beatles were basically a vocal band.

Keith Richards

I've never tried to achieve anything. I achieved everything I wanted to achieve by being in the Rolling Stones and making records.

Keith Richards

You know, the BBC had not been particularly generous in its deliverance of blues and esoteric kinds of music.

Keith Richards

If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.

Keith Richards

Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.

Keith Richards

This is the rock 'n' roll life, and you had to invent it as you went along. There was no textbook to say how you operate this machinery.

Keith Richards

I mean, give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string, I wouldn't get bored anywhere.

Keith Richards

You didn't know whether Chuck Berry was black or white - it was not a concern.

Keith Richards

I've always been suspicious of TV, I've always found music and video to be an unhappy marriage.

Keith Richards

I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.

Keith Richards

To me, as long as we've known each other, I've always thought Mick's most brilliant thing was that he could work in an area two foot square and give a very exciting performance.

Keith Richards

I never thought I was wasted, but I probably was.

Keith Richards

When you're supported by millions all over the world, you can either go nuts, or try to feed off the goodwill.

Keith Richards

I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police.

Keith Richards

I only get ill when I give up drugs.

Keith Richards

If you say I'm great, thank you very much. But I know what I am. I could be better, man, you know?

Keith Richards

Songwriting's a weird game. I never intended to become one - I fell into this by mistake, and I can't get out of it. It fascinates me. I like to point out the rawer points of life.

Keith Richards

To me, my biggest fear is getting a big head, and that is when I get the hammer. Because it's very easy in this game to believe you're something special.

Keith Richards

Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll.

Keith Richards

Give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string; I wouldn't get bored anywhere.

Keith Richards

Let me be clear about this. I don't have a drug problem. I have a police problem.

Keith Richards

I achieved everything I wanted to achieve by being in the Rolling Stones and making records.

Keith Richards

It's great to be here. It's great to be anywhere.

Keith Richards

Yes, I've been trepanned. That's quite an interesting experience, especially for my brain surgeon, who saw my thoughts flying around in my brain.

Keith Richards

You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe - and you have the Rolling Stones!

Keith Richards

Songwriting's a weird game.

Keith Richards

If you've gotta think about being cool, you ain't cool.

Keith Richards

I'm not getting old I'm evolving.

Keith Richards

A painter's got a canvas. The writer's got reams of empty paper. A musician has silence.

Keith Richards

You can't accuse me of anything I haven't already confessed to.

Keith Richards

True friends. Hardest thing to find, but you never look for them - they found you ; you just grow into each other

Keith Richards

When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you.

Keith Richards

If you are going to get wasted, then get wasted elegantly.

Keith Richards

Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.

Keith Richards

Music is a necessity. After food, air, water and warmth, music is the next necessity of life.

Keith Richards

Some things get better with age. Like me.

Keith Richards

It's a privilege just to wake up to a new day.

Keith Richards

There was a knock on our dressing-room door. Our manager shouted, 'Keith! Ron! The Police are here!' Oh, man, we panicked, flushed everything down the john. Then the door opened and it was Stewart Copeland and Sting.

Keith Richards

We age not by holding on to youth, but by letting ourselves grow and embracing whatever youthful parts remain.

Keith Richards

Top 169 Quotes & Sayings by Keith Richards

Related Authors