Keith Richards Quotes

“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, According to the Rolling Stones

“The big rules of knife fighting are (a) do not try it at home, and (b) the whole point is never, ever use the blade. It is there to distract your opponent. While he stares at the gleaming steel, you kick his balls to kingdom come--he's all yours. Just a tip!”
― Keith Richards, Life

“Oh my God. I'm not Keith Richards. I'm Otis from Mayberry! A fucking drunk!”
― Dave Mustaine, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir

“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, Life

“Depending on how you looked at it, Darren was our Mick Jagger (designated swaggering extrovert) to Simon's Keith Richards (quietly virtuosic, blatantly self-destructive). Or else Darren had been Paul McCartney (chirpily commercial) and Simon had been John Lennon (moody, introspective, possessed of quasi-mystical insights).”
― Austin Grossman, You

“Keith Richards is a man without regret. When I ask him if—given the chance to do it all over again—he’d start taking heroin, he doesn’t pause. “Oh yes. Yes. There was a lot of experience in there—you meet a lot of weird people, different takes on life that you’re not going to find if you don’t go there. I loved a good high. And if you stay up, you get the songs that everyone else misses, because they’re asleep. There’s songs zooming around everywhere. There’s songs zooming through here right now, in the air.”
― Caitlin Moran, Moranthology

“They’re very similar people,” observed Keith Richards. “They’re both very guarded creatures. You wonder if there’s anything worth guarding.”
― Joe Hagan, Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine

“Spiderwoman stepped forward and said, "Oh, do give us a hint, just give us a glimmer." Mick turned to me and said, "We're the Glimmer Twins." Baptized on the equator, the Glimmer Twins is the name we used later for ourselves as producers of our own records.”
― Keith Richards, Life

“On a scale of 1-10 how do ya rate the Stones in Concert . . . 12 !! . . . but in New York City . . . 15”
― Kevin Kolenda

“Stoned Soup by Stewart Stafford

Keith Richards talks Brendan Behan,
Making soup, wrapped in a blanket,
While in a kitchen in County Cork,
Mick Jagger listens and laughs loudly.

Discussing the previous night’s gig,
Mick says the crowd was wonderful,
Keith agrees and says so was Charlie,
Keith’s lip cigarette jigs to each word.

Through choking plumes of smoke,
The soup is ready, Mick tries some,
His notable lips curl downwards fast,
He humours Keith and says it’s great.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“One final note one the [Rolling] Stones, though: When they came through the Bay Area earlier on that tour for regular concerts at the Oakland Coliseum Arena [before the Altamont free concert, 1969], 'They blew up all their equipment at the first show,' Betty Cantor-Jackson relates. 'They had all this Ampeg equipment, and it just went Ffffffttt! They were in a panic, so [Larry] Ram Rod [Shurtliff] and [Unknown maybe Rex?] Jackson raced to our [Grateful Dead] warehouse and brought down a bunch of our [rewired, kicked up, tinkered and experimented with] Fender amps for them, and the next show we sat up onstage while they played, and it sounded amazing. That was one of the times Bill Graham was nice to us,' She laughs. 'Anyway, I remember the first note Keith {Richards} played through Jerry's [Garcia] amp, and his mouth just dropped open. 'Woah!'. He couldn't believe the power and the clarity.'.”
― Blair Jackson, Grateful Dead Gear: The Band's Instruments, Sound Systems and Recording Sessions From 1965 to 1995