“They say you can smoke 400 cigs a day and drink 20 cups of coffee, but you can’t have a line or a drink again.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I am a big fan of the Impressionists, and in my school days, I was inspired by Caravaggio, Velazquez and Rembrandt.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I can’t be left unsupervised.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I go off into Dublin and two days later I’m spotted walking by the Liffey with a whole bunch of new friends.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I’m a diplomat by nature. I help find the middle ground. I crack a joke and use humour to help resolve potentially vicious situations quickly. It gets things in perspective and helps everyone to see that things aren’t as bad as they seem.”
― Ronnie Wood
“You don’t make solo albums to have hits.”
― Ronnie Wood
“When I’m left on my own I’m my own worst enemy.”
― Ronnie Wood
“We’re great, Jo and me. We’re pals, and I guess sex has a lot to do with it. She’s also brilliant at clearing a room. So protective, so devoted. I can’t believe how much she loves me.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I still feel 29. Maybe I should act my age more, but I just can’t.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I had a fiery affair with George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd.”
― Ronnie Wood
“It’s an awful world out there. You’ve got to make people happy.”
― Ronnie Wood
“What can I say, I’m an alcoholic. It’s what I do.”
― Ronnie Wood
“There’s a basic rule which runs through all kinds of music, kind of an unwritten rule. I don’t know what it is. But I’ve got it.”
― Ronnie Wood
“With every gig we have to prove ourselves better than the night before.”
― Ronnie Wood
“When I first started all this, it was mostly music fans that came along, Stones fans. But now, I’m being taken seriously. I’ve got highfalutin’ art collectors and everything!”
― Ronnie Wood
“When I first saw Jo, I said boom, that was it, because I’m a one-woman man.”
― Ronnie Wood
“We got touring with the Stones, and people were trying to keep up with Keith. He’s like a human machine with a constitution of iron, and they all thought they could do the same.”
― Ronnie Wood
“People often get the wrong impression of Mick. The clever businessman is just one side of Mick. The other side is the same as the rest of us, a true rocker!”
― Ronnie Wood
“My real self is probably more creative and more frightening than any sort of drink or drug-induced state.”
― Ronnie Wood
“My dad lived till he was 78, my mum was in her 80s, and I’ve got two uncles who are in their 90s now.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Mick says, Would you join the band? I say to him, Mick, you know I’d be there in a New York minute.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Mick has expressed an interest in coming to the gallery tonight because he’s seen me behaving myself lately. He is being much more supportive, which is nice.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Let’s face it: I paint well. I know it, you know it. There’s no arguing really, is there?”
― Ronnie Wood
“Jo left me a few months ago for 10 days. I get this note: I’ll come back when the real Ronnie comes back.”
― Ronnie Wood
“It’s taken folk a while to come around, hasn’t it? Even the boys in the band weren’t too sure about the whole art thing. They just wanted me to concentrate on the music. But they respect it now.”
― Ronnie Wood
“In my family, they were all big boozers.”
― Ronnie Wood
“The last show we played, I was straight as a die. It did feel weird not to be hiding behind alcohol or dope, but being focused was… good.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I’ve got an article where my mum says that I used to run home from school to watch the Stones on TV. Right from when I was at college I wanted to be in that band.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I’m terrible with money, absolutely awful. I’m always losing it.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I’m a Gemini, so I have a great time with the other guy.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I love to go to Ireland just to relax.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I like it when journalists are nice to me, and it’s happening more and more.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I just think my body can’t handle it any more. I did try a little drink a while back, and I was actually physically ill. I went into an immediate depression, and felt awful, just dreadful. So that’s it. I’m over it now.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I heard this massive thud. I spun around, and there Keith was, on the ground. He’d cut his gums up on impact, he was very bloody, and clutching his head. I think it was a kind of wake-up call for him.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I always want to rock.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Having loved the Stones all the time I was growing up, I wasn’t about to see them go and split up. It got very close to it in the 80s, when Mick thought that Keith hated him and vice versa.”
― Ronnie Wood
“All of us can’t wait to get out there whatever way.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Regina Spektor is great. I can’t wait to see what more she’s capable of.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I’m still digging long-established bands like U2 – they’re new to me!”
― Ronnie Wood
“Nowadays you can record on your laptop with Pro Tools, which I do quite often.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I have been rich, and I have been broke. Some of it is my fault for choosing bad management and making bad investments. But that is life – we all take risks.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I love to get into a landscape and paint my horses.”
― Ronnie Wood
“All my life there’s always been an ex-wife or a girlfriend.”
― Ronnie Wood
“The blues echoes right through into soul, R&B and hip hop. It’s part of the make-up of modern music. You can’t turn your back on the blues.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Most white Americans only discovered the blues with the British invasion.”
― Ronnie Wood
“We do things on an exchange basis in the music business – it keeps the wheels turning. That’s how I can get people like Slash, Flea and Kris Kristofferson on my album. Collaboration should be done through trades rather than charging each other a fortune.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Songs are out there – they’re waiting to be grabbed. I start with a phrase, musical and lyrical, words like ‘I don’t think so’ and a nice riff. It rolls from there.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I tried to emulate my favourite guitar players, the old bluesmen like Blind Willie McTell and Big Bill Broonzy. I used to sit by the record player and copy Chuck Berry and the Beatles. You can never copy someone completely, so you end up developing your own style.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I think people are ‘just creative,’ and this can be expressed in a number of ways. Bob Dylan and David Bowie create both music and art.”
― Ronnie Wood
“Amazing, the poisons I used to put in my body. I used to love it.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I used to worry, ‘I’ve lost my family.’ They hated me for a while, but they’re very resilient.”
― Ronnie Wood
“It’s good fun, making a solo album, because there’s perhaps songs that wouldn’t get used for the Stones or any other kind of outfit that I’m working with. It’s just nice to be the boss.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I’ve always thrived on getting a drive from different emotional circumstances that I’m going through.”
― Ronnie Wood
“When I get intimate with my paintings, it’s a real good spiritual thing to get off my chest. Same as playing the instruments is a great release.”
― Ronnie Wood
“During the Eighties, when I was hurting for money, I thought, ‘Hang on a minute – I can paint.’ I was living in New York and I thought it would get the grocery money coming in, and it escalated from there.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I have a life coach out with me on tour, a very nice guy from L.A. He just prepares me for each day.”
― Ronnie Wood
“All my family back to the 1700s were water Gypsies. My brothers and me, we were the first ones to be born on dry land. All the rest of them were born on barges in the canals.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I’m more lost when I’m not on tour. I’m in a bit of a muddle at nine o’clock – ‘Where’s the stage?’ On tour, there are people directing and supervising you.”
― Ronnie Wood
“I find it hard to get old and hard to say, ‘No.’”
― Ronnie Wood
“Married life is absolutely brilliant.”
― Ronnie Wood
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