92 Quotes by Bernard Sumner

If someone throws you in a pool and you can't swim, you're going to struggle.

I'm not interested in the past or in talking about myself.

There's challenges in life that present themselves unexpectedly, and if you rise to them, then those challenges will toughen you up.

If you're a lead singer, then you can't afford to be sensitive. On stage, everyone looks at the lead singer, even if you don't want them to - in America, they have those massive follow spots on you all the time; it does your head in. So, if you are a lead singer and you don't toughen up, you're in the wrong job, and you have to get out.

It's not in my nature to be too literal.

We're all private people, but as a musician, I think that once you get to the point where there's more of your life behind you than in front of you, you owe it to your public to explain yourself.

I first read about hypnotism at school, and I used to do tricks like getting a really skinny guy to arm wrestle the local bully.

We didn't play any Joy Division songs for 10 years after the start of New Order, which was a very honourable thing to do even if it meant shooting ourselves in the foot.

I think if you take 'Get Ready,' 'Waiting For The Siren's Call,' 'Lost Sirens' - those three New Order albums were mostly guitar-based. There were a couple of dance tunes in there, but they were mainly guitar-oriented. They came about through jamming, a lot of them.