16 David Bowie quotes that show why he was such a legend

Everybody has a David Bowie tune they love. We are no different. Bowie was one of those musicians you expected to live forever. Perhaps it was his music or his magic. He was an extraordinary artist in every sense of the word.

As a celebration of his life and his way of thinking, we have put together a showcase of his wisest quotes. Each one shows why he was a legend. He will be missed but never forgotten.

Art and culture

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”

“I suppose for me as an artist it wasn’t always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture I was living in.”

Fame and stardom

“You would think that a rock star being married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is.”

“The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.”

“I’m always amazed that people take what I say seriously. I don’t even take what I am seriously.”

“I’m an instant star. Just add water and stir.”

The future of music

“Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it’s like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left.” (said in 2002)

“There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It’s always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means.”

“I don’t know how many times someone has come up to me and said, ‘Hey, Lets dance!’. I hate dancing. God, it’s stupid.”

Life and mortality

“I’m not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I’m living on.”

“As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I’ve got left?”

“Confront a corpse at least once. The absolute absence of life is the most disturbing and challenging confrontation you will ever have.”

“Fame can take interesting men and thrust mediocrity upon them.”

“I believe that I often bring out the best in somebody’s talents.”

“I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, ‘Fuck that. I want to be a superhuman.’”

For more on pop culture’s most fascinating figures, see 22 things you probably didn’t know about James Dean or 20 things about Carrie Fisher and Star Wars.