Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight) is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. John has sold more than 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive number-one albums in the United States, 58 Billboard Top 40 singles, 27 Top 10 singles, four which reached number two and nine which reached number one.
He has also composed music, produced records and has occasionally acted in films. He has received five Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards – winning two awards for Outstanding Contribution to Music and the first Brits Icon in 2013 for his “lasting impact on British culture”, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, a Disney Legends award, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2004.
Some of the best quotes from Elton John are listed below.
- “And I trusted someone to look after me on the business side of life.” – Elton John
- “And I’m afraid, in this day and age, trust, which I count so, you know, I love loyalty. I love trust. – Elton John
- “Ask anyone. If it hadn’t been for Elvis, I don’t know where popular music would be. He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me.” – Elton John
- “Cause what the hell is wrong with expressing yourself, trying to be me?” – Elton John
- “Dave and I as a couple seem to be the acceptable face of gayness, and that’s great. I’ve got to use that power to try and do what I can – or we have – to try to make the situations in Russia and Poland better.” – Elton John
- “Don’t shoot me, I’m just the piano player!” – Elton John
- “Everything I thought I’d hate about having children – the crying, the screaming – nothing fazes me. I love it all, and it’s relaxed me.” – Elton John
- “Goodbye, Norma Jean from the young man in the 22nd row. Who sees you as something more than sexual more than just our Marilyn Monroe.” – Elton John
- “Hold me a closer tiny dancer, count the headlights on the highway. Lay me down in sheets of linen, you had a busy day today.” – Elton John
- “I am totally against the war but violence is part of mankind and it’s going to happen, but as musicians I think we’ve got to step up and say ‘come on’.” – Elton John
- “I didn’t have sex until I was 23 and that was with a man. I made up for lost time after that in a hurry. I wish I could have had sex when I was, like, 14, 15 or 16 because that’s such an exciting age to have sex.” – Elton John
- “I do like my rock stars to be a little larger than life. I don’t mind the earnest ones at all, but I do like a bit of individuality.” – Elton John
- “I grew up conservative because my mum was a conservative, and when I finally realized what conservatives were, I changed my mind immediately.” – Elton John
- “I grew up in the Fifties and early Sixties, which were still quite conservative, and I wasn’t given any information about sex or anything like that; I went out with girls at school because one had to. I didn’t experiment with sex for quite a long time.” – Elton John
- “I have a lot of money stashed away, but I do live my life from day to day.” – Elton John
- “I have a much better relationship with the press than I did, I think because I stood my ground.” – Elton John
- “I love drag queens and I love going to see them perform because those people have got so much character and bravery. Such balls! I love people with balls.” – Elton John
- “I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life. I love the food. I love the people. I love the attitudes of Italians.” – Elton John
- “I mean, Sting is one of my great buddies and I love him to death.” – Elton John
- “I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don’t know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East — you’re as good as dead.” – Elton John
- “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays. But there are so many Christian people I know who are gay and love their religion.” – Elton John
- “I think that people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose. They should draw the line at goats, though.” – Elton John
- “I want to do a musical movie. Like Evita, but with good music.” – Elton John
- “I was just genuinely shy. I’d always been a shy kid.” – Elton John
- “I was more ashamed that I couldn’t work the washing machine than the fact that I was taking drugs.” – Elton John
- “I’ll not complain about your boring life if you just leave me to mine.” – Elton John
- “I’m going to fight for human rights, whether I do it silently behind the scenes or vocally so that I get locked up. I can’t just sit back; it’s not in my nature. I can’t sit back and blindly ignore it, and I won’t.” – Elton John
- “If you write great songs with meaning and emotion, they will last forever because songs are the key to everything.” – Elton John
- “I’m going to fight for human rights, whether I do it silently behind the scenes or vocally so that I get locked up. I can’t just sit back; it’s not in my nature. I can’t sit back and blindly ignore it, and I won’t.” – Elton John
- “Instead of more violence why isn’t there a [meeting of religious leaders]. It’s all got to be a dialogue – that’s the only way. Get everybody from each religion together and say ‘Listen, this can’t go on. Why do we have all this hatred?” – Elton John
- “It’s the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, ’till we find our place, on the path unwinding.” – Elton John
- “Johnny, can’t you come out to play in your empty garden?” – Elton John
- “Live for each second without hesitation.” – Elton John
- “Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.” – Elton John
- “My mum always used to buy a record every Friday.” – Elton John
- “Only take as much as you give, in the circle of life.” – Elton John
- “Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays. From my point of view, I would ban religion completely. Organized religion doesn’t seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it’s not really compassionate.” – Elton John
- “The AIDS disease is caused by a virus, but the AIDS epidemic is not. The AIDS epidemic is fueled by stigma, by hate, by misinformation, by ignorance, by indifference. Science has accomplished miracles over the past 20 years, and science can now end this disease – but it cannot end the epidemic. We need more than medicine. We can do something about these things. We need to speak out about the changes we need to make in our society.” – Elton John
- “The great thing about rock and roll is that someone like me can be a star.” – Elton John
- “The world is near escalating to World War Three and where are the leaders of each religion? Why aren’t they having a conclave; why aren’t they coming together?” – Elton John
- “There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex–they should draw the line at goats.” – Elton John
- “There’s a time for everyone, if they only learn, that the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn.” – Elton John
- “We can’t keep thinking of gay people as being ostracized; we can’t keep thinking of Muslim people as being ostracized because of the fundamentalism that occurs in Islam. Muslim people have to do something about speaking up about it. We can’t judge a book by its cover.” – Elton John
- “We have a society where every hit maker and TV presenter is gay.” – Elton John
- “What we should be doing as musicians is trying to bring people together.” – Elton John
- “When stars collide, like you and I, no shadow blocks the sun.” – Elton John
- “You know, it’s a very treatable disease. You shouldn’t feel ashamed. But I’m afraid that’s carried on very much so from the first days of AIDS when it was basically a gay disease. And then, of course, you know, it affected everybody.” – Elton John
- “You should never take more than you give.” – Elton John