British singer David Bowie, who died Sunday at the age of 69 after a an 18-month battle with cancer, will be remembered for much more than his decades-long musical career.
Countless interviews reveal his wise, funny and self-reflective character.
Here are some of Bowie's best quotes over the years:
On Fame
"I'm an instant star. Just add water and stir," he said early on in his career. "I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, "F**k that. I want to be a superhuman."
“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring." he told the crowd at New York's Madison Square Garden during his 50th birthday concert in 1998.
"You would think that a rock star being married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is,” he said, referring to his marriage to supermodel Iman Abdulmajid.
“Fame itself … doesn’t really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant,” he said in 1990.
“"You know, what I do is not terribly intellectual. I'm a pop singer, for Christ's sake."”
- David Bowie
On Style
"I think we all like long hair and we don't see why other people should persecute us because of it," he told BBC's "Tonight" in 1964.
"We spent endless hours talking about fame, and what it's like not having a life of your own any more. How much you want to be known before you are, and then when you are, how much you want the reverse," he said about his conversations with John Lennon in a 1983 interview with Time Out.
On Work
“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," he said in a 2002 interview with GQ.
“I feel that I’ve consistently written about the same subjects for 35 … nearly 40 years. There’s really been no room for change with me. It’s all despondency, despair, fear, isolation, abandonment," he told BBC in 2002.
"My performances have got to be theatrical experiences for me as well as for the audience," he said to Rolling Stone in 1971. "I don’t want to climb out of my fantasies in order to go up onstage -- I want to take them on stage with me."
"What I do is I write mainly about very personal and rather lonely feelings, and I explore them in a different way each time," he also said in the 2002 GQ interview. "You know, what I do is not terribly intellectual. I'm a pop singer, for Christ's sake. As a person, I'm fairly uncomplicated."
“All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it,” he told The Word in 2003.
“"You would think that a rock star being married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is.””
- David Bowie
On His Life Philosophy
"I mean, my whole life is made up of experimentation, curiosity and anything that seemed at all appealing," he said during the 1983 Time Out interview.
"I really had a hunger to experience everything that life had to offer, from the opium den to whatever. And I think I have done just about everything that it's possible to do," he told The Telegraph in 1996.
"I'm just an individual who doesn't feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way," he said on CBS' "60 Minutes" in 2002. "I'm working for me."
“I was virtually trying anything … And I think I have done just about everything that it's possible to do -- except really dangerous things, like being an explorer," he also said in The Telegraph. "But anything that Western culture has to offer -- I’ve put myself through it.”
“Make the best of every moment. We’re not evolving. We’re not going anywhere.”
"We are just a species dependent on survival instincts, and that's how we build up our moralities, absolutes and truths," he said in 2002 to GQ.
More coverage of David Bowie:
David Bowie Style Remembered
1966(01 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performs on the TV show "Ready, Steady, Go" on March 4, 1966 in London, England. (credit:Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
1972(02 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie poses for a portrait in his "Ziggy Stardust" guise in June 1972 in London, England. (credit:Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
1972(03 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie being interviewed at home in Beckenham, London on April 24, 1972. (credit:Michael Putland via Getty Images)
1973(04 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performs onstage during his "Ziggy Stardust" era in 1973 in Los Angeles, California. (credit:Getty)
1973(05 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie and Paul McCartney, London 1973. (credit:Collection Privee\Getty Images)
1973(06 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1973. (credit:Getty)
1973(07 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie poses for a portrait dressed as "Ziggy Stardust" in a hotel room in 1973 in New York City. (credit:Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
1973(08 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie at the Empire cinema, Leicester Square, London, for the premiere of "Hitler: The Last Ten Days," 7th May 1973. (credit:Leonard Burt via Getty Images)
1973(09 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie during his last show as Ziggy Stardust filmed mostly at The Marquee Club in London, England from October 18-20, 1973. (credit:NBC via Getty Images)
1973(10 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie visits comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore backstage at the Cambridge Theatre in London, following the pair's show "Behind The Fridge." (credit:Keystone via Getty Images)
1974(11 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie with dyed red hair and a yellow suit, circa 1974. (credit:Terry O'Neill via Getty Images)
1974(12 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performs on the Dutch TV show "TopPop" on 7th February 1974 in Hilversum, Netherlands. (credit:Gijsbert Hanekroot via Getty Images)
1978(13 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie in concert at the Los Angles Forum, April 4, 1978 in Inglewood, California. (credit:Bob Riha Jr via Getty Images)
1985(14 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performs onstage in 1985. (credit:Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
1987(15 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie during David Bowie at The China Club on August 1, 1987 at The China Club in New York City. (credit:Jim Smeal via Getty Images)
1991(16 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie during Tin Machine in Concert at the Pier in New York City. (credit:Kevin.Mazur via Getty Images)
1991(17 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie And Tin Machine Performing At The Brixton Academy, London, Britain. (credit:Brian Rasic via Getty Images)
1994(18 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie in Wembley, London, United Kingdom. (credit:KMazur via Getty Images)
1997(19 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie, and wife Iman in London to launch his new Publication, and Publishing company, on May 20th, 1997 in London. (credit:UK Press via Getty Images)
1999(20 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie introduces Lauryn Hill during the 1999 MTV Music Video Awards held in New York City on September 9th, 1999. (credit:Frank Micelotta Archive via Getty Images)
2000(21 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie poses backstage at the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 25, 2000 in Somerset, England. (credit:Dave Hogan via Getty Images)
2002(22 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performs live on January 3rd, 2002 at Hammersmith Apollo, London. (credit:Dave Benett via Getty Images)
2002(23 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie backstage at the MTV Rock & Comedy Concert at Battery Park in New York City on May10th, 2002. (credit:Frank Micelotta Archive via Getty Images)
2002(24 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie onstage performing at the 2002 VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, October 15th, 2002. (credit:Scott Gries via Getty Images)
2002(25 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performs at the Meltdown Festival in London, London. (credit:KMazur via Getty Images)
2002(26 of30)
Open Image ModalIman & David Bowie during "Gangs of New York" world premiere at Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. (credit:KMazur via Getty Images)
2003(27 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie performs at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (credit:KMazur via Getty Images)
2005(28 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie at Conde Nast's 2005 Fashion Rocks Show. (credit:KMazur via Getty Images)
2010(29 of30)
Open Image ModalIman and David Bowie attend the 2010 CFDA Fashion Awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 7, 2010 in New York City. (credit:Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images)
2012(30 of30)
Open Image ModalDavid Bowie is seen on February 27, 2012 in New York City. (credit:Photo by Mario Magnani/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
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