Quotes by Jack White

“Well any man with a microphonecan tell you what he loves the mostand you know why you love at allif youre thinking of the holy ghostif youre thinking of the holy ghost.”

“They still dont know where the stolen Scream painting by Munch is. Itll come back sooner or later. What are you going to do with a stolen painting? Hide it in your attic? You cant show it to anyone really, if youre caught with it, I dont know. Strange.”

“The biggest failures come round and spring ultimate surprises of survival.”

“There was a small boy at the airport, maybe two years old, who came over to me and stood in front of me. I gave him a record that you can only get from me. He laughed and stared. For a second I wished I was no one else but myself. Ill never see him again but he was the most beautiful thing Ive seen in a while.”

“Music is what I have to do, I only answer the questions so that I can do it.”

“I have so many collections, the doctors told me that I couldn’t collect people anymore, only their personalities and memories. So I have that going for me.”

“You cant punish me for that. Dont ask me my opinion and then punish me for the answer I give you! Better still, just dont ask. Or dont expect truth. Fruit from the tree of knowledge. I love it! If you think Im going to give you an opinion thats popular then you are talking to the wrong person. I dont know how to do that. I dont know how to turn my brain off and do what you would like me to do.”

“Ive had a great day today. I flew for thirteen hours and I somehow didnt watch t.v. the whole time. I didnt notice until I was off the plane. I wonder what I was thinking about. Im one of those people that you have to keep your eye on or Ill wander off into the woods and forget to come back.”

“Id got accepted to a seminary in Wisconsin, and I was gonna become a priest, but at the last second I thought, I’ll just go to public school. I had just gotten a new amplifier in my bedroom, and I didn’t think I was allowed to take it with me.”

Well, I sort of don’t trust anybody who doesn’t like Led Zeppelin.

Music is what I have to do, I only answer the questions so that I can do it.

When I say nothing, I say everything

I keep guitars that are, you know, the necks a little bit bent and its a little bit out of tune. I want to work and battle it and conquer it and make it express whatever attitude I have at that moment. I want it to be a struggle.

Thats what happens nowadays with people working on computers. They can so easily fix things with their mouse and take out all the, Oh, somebody coughed in the background; we need to take that out - or somebody hit a bad note. Those are all the best moments.

I dabbled in things like Howlin Wolf, Cream and Led Zeppelin, but when I heard Son House and Robert Johnson, it blew my mind. It was something Id been missing my whole life. That music made me discard everything else and just get down to the soul and honesty of the blues.

With the White Stripes we were trying to trick people into not realising we were playing the blues. We did not want to come off like white kids trying to play black music from 100 years ago so a great way to distract them was by dressing in red, white and black.

The fact that we elected Obama was a sign that the black struggle inherent in the blues and so much of the music I have loved can triumph.

I think it takes a lot of trickery to keep up with the media and its perception of you. I dont know if I have it in me most of the time to care. The music is made first, and the interviews or photos to keep it alive come later as a necessary evil, I suppose.

Nowadays, everybody assumes, when they wake up in the morning, if they have a question, it will get answered. Because they have the internet. No matter what the question is, someone will answer their question.

Vinyl is the real deal. Ive always felt like, until you buy the vinyl record, you dont really own the album. And its not just me or a little pet thing or some kind of retro romantic thing from the past. It is still alive.