You look at the Blur comeback, it was so smooth - so smooth - compared to The Verve.

Some people have a God because they need faith, and that's fair enough.

I probably suffered from a narcissistic disorder in some way.

If I was a painter, I would have hundreds of finished and unfinished canvases in my studio waiting for people to see, and it is the same with my music. I've got so many pieces of music and songs waiting to be heard.

My job is to make grown men cry, to blow people's minds and elevate them, make them transcend and unlock emotions that have been repressed by life, their job, situation - that's what I do.

The Grime guys have kind of rewritten the blueprint for people as far as creativity, songwriting, ownership, doing your own videos... So they're sending out a real positive message I think to people, that you can do it yourself in a punk way, and you can still potentially be successful and get to people.

George Best was my idol. I got a chance to meet him once.

Life's about ego. So for someone to talk about my ego, as they are writing their piece about my ego, I'm wondering what they're doing with their ego?

I'm not one of those freaks who can't see anything past 1977.

We all have our daily prescription of yoga, football, religion, or whatever gets us through that day. My thing is music. It's the only thing that gives me a sense of calm and balance. It's the thing I know I'm good at.

Pop music might seem banal and simple to some people, but it's what it expresses that counts.

Just because something's kinda indie and whatever and only a few people know it, it doesn't give it more authenticity over Rihanna's 'Work' work work.

When you go onstage, the process of getting you from the dressing room to the stage is all about ego.

Other kids would be playing with their Action Man, and I was questioning life and society.

You know, rock n' roll's an old carcass: it's one big cliche. It's so difficult to do anything that has any sense of freshness or vitality or meaning. But that's what I'm trying to do, to give it new meaning.

The Richard Ashcroft of 1992 would have struggled to imagine the path my life has taken - he would be amazed at the changes in my song writing.

I don't like being told what to do.

Even if you're not releasing songs, the act of creativity is important. That's the part I love, when you're in the moment. The rest of it I'm not particularly interested in at all.

I have never had a bad review off a good-looking person.

I don't believe in a new-age movement; I'm not a hippy.

It's difficult to be the spokesperson for something that internally is falling apart. That's a tremendous amount of pressure to put on one person, to be the guy who gives all the quotes, all the interviews.

If this world hasn't made you semi-mad, then you ain't living in it.

We never had a stylist, so I always wore my own clothes.

Glasgow Barrowlands is the greatest concert venue in the world.

I don't want to be responsible for messing up someone. I don't want to be responsible for that, because the things that happened in The Verve, it was heavy stuff. It was real. It wasn't just frivolous nonsense, you know what I mean? There was real people's lives.

Music is power.

80% of everything I've experienced since the Verve has been depressing.

Technology means the kind of music you can make on your own if you've got an imagination is amazing. It's crazy that I can sit with a Mac and a keyboard and a mic and create a symphony.

I love sportsmen's spirit, their ability to come back and override negativity. Michael Owen has been written off so many times, but he will always prove the doubters wrong.

I'm very interested in Darwinism and how that affects us on a day-to-day level. But I also have a deep interest in theology and the spiritual.

I don't think I have enough German blood in me to get into the royal family.

I'm a naturally gifted left-footed footballer.

People do get out of my way when I'm walking to the shops.

People wanted me to become this cliched Keith Richards, Iggy Pop character. I wasn't expected to marry a beautiful wife and have kids.

I wouldn't trade what Coldplay have achieved for any of my songs.

Don't expect me to be some indie schmindie embarrassed about my success.

Ultimately, if someone's paying hard-earned money to see me play live, they don't want a rant about what's happening on the other side of the world. They don't want to know which way they should vote.

I'm very lucky that I can walk on the stage before anyone in the world. And that's the thing: you've got to be pretty confident to go on after me. You've got to have the artillery, as I call it. And the artillery is your songs.

Rock n' roll is like a religion.

The mainstream consumed our culture.

If you really, truly believe in something, you're on fire, and your tongue rolls at the same pace.

At The Verve's first-ever gig, I said that we were gonna blow this local band off the stage. It was only in the local Wigan paper, and they rang me to ask why I was being so aggressive. I just went, 'Hey man, it's like boxing. I'm just trying to sell a ticket.'

I've had tons of incredible conversations with people who say they got married or buried relatives to my songs.

Hearing 'This Is How It Feels' on the radio was an amazing feeling, like starting again. But I believe that, in the end, my name will be bigger then the Verve because of all those great tunes and the power of what I stand for.

There's a track called 'Why Not Nothing' about how the world's turning so conservative and so religious at the same time. I think it's up to the songwriters to give another side to the coin, and my music does that.

Obviously, aging has a certain amount of mellowing process because there's certain things you realise you were doing when you were younger that were plain ridiculous, stupid.

I'm never happy with any record, never truly been happy.

I strongly disagree that you can't have a happy family life and a child as well as rock n' roll.

If you judge people by what they've done in the past, you're wrong.

I've got a talent, and people enjoy my songs, people love my songs; why stop?