U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don`t really know what we`re doing and when we do, it doesn`t seem to help.

Look, I`m sick of Bono and I AM Bono.

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

(On Live Aid (1985) (TV)) That day changed my life and started me on this incredible adventure, that is the possibility that our generation could be remembered for something other than the Internet ... the first generation to eradicate extreme poverty ... I want to spend the rest of my life doing that, the band mouth off and complain, but they support me.

Marriage is this grand madness, and I think if people knew that, they would perhaps take it more seriously. The reason why there`s operas and novels and pop tunes written about love is because it`s such an extraordinary thing, not because it`s commonplace, and yet that`s what you`re told, you grow up with this idea that it`s the norm. Hot Press, March 2000

I know sometimes you shouldn`t judge your audience by the fans you meet, especially if they`re in a flowerbed in your garden at home but U2 fans are different, they`re very humane.

There`s the country of America, which you have to defend, but there`s also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it`s an idea. An idea that`s supposed to be contagious.

Everyone argues, then we do what I say. - 1987

The world is more malleable than you think. We can bend it into a better shape. Ask big questions, demand big answers.

It costs a fortune to look this trashy.

What about this idea of liberty? Not liberty for its own sake, but liberty for some larger end - not just freedom from oppression, but freedom of expression and worship. Freedom from want, and freedom from fear because when you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grow, you are not free. When you are dying of a mosquito bite for lack of a bed net, you are not free. When you are hungry in a world of plenty, you are not free. And when you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace, it is an affront to the thug regime, well then none of us are truly free.

I love art too much to call these anything other than marks on paper - on his paintings

Never trust a man who tells you it`s from the heart, never trust a man smoking a cigar, never trust a cowboy or a man who wears shades...

It would be wrong for me to say, `Yes, we can change the world with a song.` But every time I try writing, that`s where I`m at. I`m not stupid. I`m aware of the futility of rock & roll music, but I`m also aware of its power.

I hate the idea of being in the UK Hall of Fame to be honest with you. We don`t want to be in any Hall of Fame until we`re retired or dead.

I`m the Fidel Castro of speechifying. We`ve got a few hours, don`t we?

Brian Wilson believes in angels. I do too and you only have to listen to the string arrangement of `God Only Knows` for fact and proof of angels.

I represent a lot of people [in Africa] who have no voice at all... They haven`t asked me to represent them. It`s cheeky but I hope they`re glad I do.

[about The Edge] He`s an owl!

Great music is written by people who are either running toward or away from God.

I could go onstage, unzip my pants, and hang my dick out, and people would think it was a statement about something.

In Ethiopia during the famine, I saw stuff there that reorganized how I saw the world. I didn`t quite know what to do about it. At a certain point, I felt God is not looking for alms. God is looking for action.

On wearing his trademark sunglasses: Without them, I`m an amorphous mass.

Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to anything is what has made me the megalomaniac that you see today - recalling his late father`s influence

[talking about The Edge] And that`s not always a given - that he would want to play guitar. He might be into keyboards this album, and you have Larry and Adam going "oh fuck, he`s into the keyboards now. We`ll never get a rock song out of him".

The stage is but a platform shoe.

When I write, it`s there. There`s no staring at a blank page.

On receiving an honorary British knighthood: You have permission to call me anything you want - except sir, all right? Lord of lords, your demigodness, that`ll do.

On visiting the White House: I`d like to think that I`ve always left the White House with more than I arrived. Not only budget commitments, cutlery, silverware, candelabras, one or two Bush family photos... OK, one Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington - it was in the bathroom, nobody could see-- I`ll give it back.

"The true life of a believer is one of a longer, more hazardous or uphill pilgrimage, and where you uncover slowly the sort of illumination for your next step."

"Religion can be the enemy of God. It`s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship."

"The only music I`m interested in is music which is either running towards or away from God."

"I think America has no experience with terrorism or even with war. In Europe, we know a little bit more about these things."

"We refute the belief that man is just a higher stage of animal, that he has no spirit. I think when people start believing that, the real respect for humanity is gone. You are just a cog in a wheel, another collection of molecules. That`s half the reason for a lot of the pessimism in the world."