Bono's Quotes

Music can change the world because it can change people.

As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both.

My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.

To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.

But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.

My understanding of the Scriptures has been made simple by the person of Christ.

The less you know, the more you believe.

What turns me on about the digital age, what excited me personally, is that you have closed the gap between dreaming and doing. You see, it used to be that if you wanted to make a record of a song, you needed a studio and a producer. Now, you need a laptop.

Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it's to have any meaning in this world - and stop being its apologist.

You see, Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice. It makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties. It doubts our concern. It questions our commitment. Because there is no way we can look at what's happening in Africa, and if we're honest, conclude that it would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else.

We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.

Rock 'n' roll is ridiculous. It's absurd. In the past, U2 was trying to duck that. Now we're wrapping our arms around it and giving it a great big kiss.

Books! I dunno if I ever told you this, but books are the greatest gift one person can give another.

It's stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building.

You see, idealism detached from action is just a dream. But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making the world bend a bit, is very exciting. It's very real. It's very strong.

Africa is a continent in flames. And deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We're standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

The fact is that ours is the first generation that can look disease and extreme poverty in the eye, look across the ocean to Africa, and say this, and mean it. We do not have to stand for this. A whole continent written off - we do not have to stand for this.

America is not just a country, it's an idea, and real Americans are getting busy.

God's Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm.

I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music and that's what makes them extraordinary.

It's so sweet, I feel like my teeth are rotting when I listen to the radio.

So what we're talking about here is human rights. The right to live like a human. The right to live, period. And what we're facing in Africa is an unprecedented threat to human dignity and equality.

Because you know when you first become famous, you start walking a little different because people are staring at you.

Happy the country that lives on nothing but its wits; cursed be the one that thinks it can get rich by planting or digging or drilling for wealth.