Oscar Wilde always makes me smile - with respect and admiration. His short stories prove that it is possible to be both sarcastic, even cynical, but deeply compassionate. Just seeing the cover of one of Wilde's books in a bookshop makes me smile.

Life is short, and we should respect every moment of it.

Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world.

I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.

One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting down with a guitar or a piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a song happen.

It's time to end the cruel slaughter of whales and leave these magnificent creatures alone.

Why would I retire? Sit at home and watch TV? No thanks. I'd rather be out playing.

I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.

None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds he was the fat guy who always played at the back.

We were pretty good mates until the Beatles started to split up and Yoko came into it. It was more like old army buddies splitting up on account of wedding bells.

I'm not religious, but I'm very spiritual.

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Nothing pleases me more than to go into a room and come out with a piece of music.

So, if I'm cooking, I'll be steaming vegetables, making some nice salad, that kind of stuff.

But you know, as a kid I would have thought of a vegetarian as a wimp.

I don't take me seriously. If we get some giggles, I don't mind.

George wrote Taxman, and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what could happen to your money.

Somebody said to me, 'But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.' That's a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, 'Now, let's write a swimming pool.'

We were a savage little lot, Liverpool kids, not pacifist or vegetarian or anything. But I feel I've gone beyond that, and that it was immature to be so prejudiced and believe in all the stereotypes.

There are only four people who knew what the Beatles were about anyway.

And I loved Fats Waller. I love his instrumental abilities, his vocal abilities and his sense of humor.

It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' I thought, this is it.

Somewhere down the line everyone must pay for their misdeeds.

At the end of the Beatles, I really was done in for the first time in my life. Until then, I really was a kind of cocky sod.