I thought I would be an overnight star when I had a hit record in Brazil with my first album - but things didn't work out quite like that.

I studied French and English literature because I liked it.

I spent a lot of my childhood saying goodbye because I went to boarding school. I didn't resent my parents for sending me there so young as I understood the limitations of the education system in Africa, where we lived at the time.

I always bring divining rods when I'm on tour because you can change energy streams by moving furniture around your hotel room.

I've been travelling all my life.

When I'm home I love to get the wellies on and take the dog for a walk.

I can fix dishwashers. I was brought up in a castle with no money and lots of imagination. I learnt a lot about plumbing at an early age.

I am happy in my own skin.

I was going to be a musician, no matter what it took. I supported myself with blue-collared jobs so I could write music and be in a band and play shows. I even got into an underground art scene. I was going to do whatever.

I've had a long career and I want to continue to have a long career. The way to do that is not to go away.

I'm sure I could start a band tomorrow that would have different influences and would want to do something completely different than anything I've done.

There's a lot of music that I don't like.

I play Texas Hold'em on my Blackberry. I have amassed a fortune on that. I have almost 30 million dollars from playing. It is unreal.

What formed me as a musician, a songwriter, the sound and personality of my band, a whole lot of that happened well before 1991.

Rock never meant the same thing to everyone, but when I was growing up in the late seventies, everyone could identify the five, ten bands that formed the center.

I had to teach myself to let go of the conventional rock way of playing guitar and singing. Some things you wouldn't expect to work, did and some things won't ever work.

I think back to my childhood, and I remember running around as a kid. We were all running around then. It wasn't about getting into shape. It's just what we did.

When you start your first band and it has an impact on the rest of the world you go through a lot with those guys and you become very protective of that legacy.

The freedom I have as a U.S. citizen is unparalleled. Despite the fact people may not like American passports, having that passport affords me more freedoms than any other passport could.

The first time I ever went to Hawaii, I was listening to island music, thinking, 'I could've been born here, and I'm pretty sure I would never play that.'

Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavours.

I have a hard time narrowing things down to ten or 12 songs. If I walk off stage in anything less than two hours, it just feels strange. It feels early.

I really had to come to the conclusion, the sort of humbling conclusion that, guess what, I'm no different than anybody else: I've got to sort of ask for help - not something I ever did, ever. And then part two of that is, like, accept it when it comes, and, you know, believe what people tell me.

When Soundgarden formed, we were post-punk - pretty quirky.