Bono

"These goals — clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty — these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a Globalised World."

"We could defend ourselves. But even though some of us became pretty good at violence ourselves, others didnt. They got the shit kicked out of em. I thought that was kind of normal. I can remember incredible street battles. I remember one madster with an iron bar, just trying to bring it down on my skull as hard as he possibly could, and holding up a dustbin lid, which saved my life. Teenage kids have no sense of mortality — yours or theirs."

"Dont get me too excited because I use four letter words when I get excited. Id just like to say to the parents, your children are safe, your country is safe, the FCC has taught me a lesson and the only four letter word Im going to use today is P-E-N-N. Come to think of it Bono is a four-letter word. The whole business of obscenity — I dont think theres anything certainly more unseemly than the sight of a rock star in academic robes. Its a bit like when people put their King Charles spaniels in little tartan sweats and hats. Its not natural, and it doesnt make the dog any smarter."

"You have made people listen. You have made people care, and you have taught us that whether we are poor or prosperous, we have only one world to share. You have taught young people that they do have the power to change the world."

"Well, here we are, the Irish in America. The Irish have been coming to America for years, going back to the great famine when the Irish were on the run from starvation and a British Government that couldnt care less. Right up to today, you know, there are more Irish immigrants here in America today than ever — some illegal, some legal. A lot of them are just running from high unemployment, some run from the Troubles in Northern Ireland, from the hatred of the H Blocks, torture. Others from wild acts of terrorism like we had today in a town called Enniskillen, where eleven people lie dead, and many more injured, on a Sunday Bloody Sunday."

"It is fair to say that we overreacted a bit. … Its not really worth defending my action, I did it in the spirit of the concert, and I thought I did it in the spirit of the artists work, and he agreed — but, in fact he didnt own his work anymore, as most artists are prone to , hed sold it, and the City of San Francisco owned it, and they didnt like what I did at all. … Its a really wild thing, you know, youre in Rock n Roll band — you know, I happen to sell millions of records — people therefore think that makes you a responsible citizen — this is not true. … I think this is one of the more mild actions of tour-madness. … Its the music that is magical with U2. … I dont mind being arrested for putting on a free concert, but I dont want to be arrested for being a vandal. I am a vandal and I do regret what I did. I really do regret it. It was dumb."

"I think that politicians are attracted at first by the celebrity but once they meet him, they find that he is outstandingly capable."

"The scale of the suffering and the scope of the commitment they often numb us into a kind of indifference. Wishing for the end to AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa is like wishing that gravity didnt make things so damn heavy. We can wish it, but what the hell can we do about it? Well, more than we think. We cant fix every problem — corruption, natural calamities are part of the picture here — but the ones we can we must. The debt burden, as I say, unfair trade, as I say, sharing our knowledge, the intellectual copyright for lifesaving drugs in a crisis, we can do that. And because we can, we must. Because we can, we must. Amen."

"When we were growing up, the 45 single was the heart of rock-and-roll and in many regards still is. Its the hardest thing to pull off. The surest sign that a band is growing stale and running out of creative ideas is when it turns to prog. And I well remember the 1970s when prog almost destroyed rock music. Its the mold growing on a congealed band on its last legs. Indeed, it still lurks among us in new, insidious forms like indie. The few times U2 has attempted prog, weve tempered it with good songwriting."

"We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies. But will we be that generation?"

"I have to come clean; Ive broken a lot of laws, and the ones I havent Ive certainly thought about. I have sinned in thought, word, and deed. God forgive me. Actually God forgave me, but why would you? Im here getting a doctorate, getting respectable, getting in the good graces of the powers that be, I hope it sends you students a powerful message: Crime does pay."

"Im less unsure about taking political risks or social risks. When I became an activist, people were like, "Really?" But they eventually accepted that. Then I started to be interested in commerce and the machinery of what got people out of poverty and into prosperity. And then a few people said, "You cant really go there, can you?" I said, "But if you are an artist, you must go there." You and I have had the conversation over the years: What can the artist do? What is the artist not allowed to do, and are there boundaries? Now, I would say to my younger self: "Experiment more and dont let people box you in. There is nothing you cant put on your canvas if it is part of your life."