We could defend ourselves. But even though some of us became pretty go — Bono

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."