Music – that’s been my education. There’s not a day that goes by that I take it for granted. – Billie Joe Armstrong
I sort of enjoy the fact that I’m misunderstood most of the time. That’s fine. – Billie Joe Armstrong
What annoys the hell out of me is the arrogance of some people. They don’t even listen to our music, they decided in advance that they don’t like it. – Billie Joe Armstrong
I’m a father. It isn’t just my life any more. I don’t want my kid finding bottles in the house or seeing his father completely smashed. – Billie Joe Armstrong
I’ve been playing rock and roll since I was 16 years old, and now I have a 16-year-old. – Billie Joe Armstrong
The thing about punk is that there are purists. Once you start going outside of that, they don’t think what you’re doing is punk rock. – Billie Joe Armstrong
The things that people do now in sports, you can’t even believe. These are complete total athletes. To see what human beings can do in the highest level is amazing. – Billie Joe Armstrong
A lot of punk rock is not going to be in the mainstream. It’s below the radar. The beauty of it is that you’re not supposed to always know. It’s subterranean. – Billie Joe Armstrong
If you have children, you don’t want to have drugs and drinks in the house. It’s just not good. – Billie Joe Armstrong
I don’t want to live in an ivory tower, being the songwriter who just turns inward. – Billie Joe Armstrong
School is practice for the future, and practice makes perfect. But nobody’s perfect, so why practice? – Billie Joe Armstrong
What is going on in America is extreme. The youth cult, they worship youth so much it’s almost paranoid. And LA is the Mecca of it all; they’re taking it to the hilt. – Billie Joe Armstrong
Minority is about being an individual. It’s like you have to sift through the darkness to find your place and be that individual you want to be your entire life. – Billie Joe Armstrong
We’re not a political band. We don’t want to tell people what to do or what to think. We just want to tell them to think. – Billie Joe Armstrong
My brother David was a great athlete and I knew there was no way I could live up to that. – Billie Joe Armstrong
People are so damned afraid that one day they might wake up and discover that they’ve grown old. – Billie Joe Armstrong
Punk has always been about doing things your own way. What it represents for me is ultimate freedom and a sense of individuality. – Billie Joe Armstrong
If I look at my old lyrics, they seem to be full of rage, but empty. There was an emptiness in my life. – Billie Joe Armstrong
There’s nothing wrong with being a loser, it just depends on how good you are at it. – Billie Joe Armstrong
If journalists ask you again and again about the same bands, you’ll end up saying you hate them just because you’re so fed up with being asked all those stupid questions. – Billie Joe Armstrong