I'd rather have ten years of superhypermost than live to be seventy sitting in some goddamn chair watching TV.

Hippies believe the world could be a better place. Beatniks believe things aren't going to get better and say the hell with it, stay stoned and have a good time.

People, whether they know it or not, like their blues singers miserable. They like their blues singers to die afterwards.

Music's for grooving man, and music's not for puttin' yourself through bad changes, y'know? I mean, you don't have to go take anybody's shit, man, just to like music, y'know what I mean? You don't. So... so if you're getting' more shit than you deserve, you know what to do about it man. Y'know, it's just music. Music's... music's s'posed to be different than that.

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

It can never be again! Everyone always talks about a good thing coming to an end, as if life was over. But I'll be 40 when this interview comes out. Paul is 38. Elton John, Bob Dylan - we're all relatively young people. The game isn't over yet. Everyone talks in terms of the last record or the last Beatle concert - but, God willing, there are another 40 years of productivity to go.