217 Quotes by Eric Clapton

The first guitar I ever had was a gut-string Spanish guitar, and I couldn’t really get the hang of it. I was only 13, and I talked my grandparents into buying it for me. I tried and tried and tried, but got nowhere with it.

Oh yeah, I mean, it wasn’t a very good guitar, most good guitars have got thrust rods in the necks that you can adjust or that’ll keep them in shape, you know keep them straight. This one just, well it turned into a bow and arrow after a couple of months.

I wish I could write easily. I’m one of those guys who’s visited by the muse when things are dire.

And I don’t like having my picture taken. I’m almost like an old African in that sense. I think it steals a bit of the soul.

You were at school and you were pimply and no one wanted to know you. You get into a group and you’ve got thousands of chicks there.

When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realize that someone has to tend to the tradition. I recognize that I have some responsibility to keep the music alive, and it’s a pretty honorable position to be in.

The toughest thing about being a celebrity, I suppose, is being polite when I don’t want to be.

I saw you walking with your other man today. If I catch you one more time, I’m gonna blow you both away.

It’s taken me to be an older guy, an old man, to have an old man’s voice. Because I only liked old men’s voices. As a kid, I didn’t like pip-squeaked singers.