I was going to McDonald’s and Taco Bell every day. The kids behind the counter knew me – it wouldn’t even faze them. Or I’d sit up at Denny’s or Big Boy and just eat by myself. It was sad. I got so heavy that people started to not recognize me.

People see me on the street, and they point to me, and they’re like, ‚Hey! All right, all right, all right!‘

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.

I don’t believe I’ll ever get credit for anything I do in foreign affairs, no matter how successful it is, because I didn’t go to Harvard.

It was because the chimps are so eye-catching, so like us and teach us so much that my work was recognised worldwide.

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war – for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people. I’d say we deserve ours more.

Few are drawn to the person whom others avoid and neglect; people gather around those who have already attracted interest.

It’s cool to be recognised by your peers.

I will never be happy without having someone. Going to sleep alone kills me.

My friends, there are no friends.

It seems that when you have cancer you are a brave battler against the disease, but when you have Alzheimer’s you are an old fart. That’s how people see you. It makes you feel quite alone.

To refuse awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than is normal.

It’s a great, great experience to finally get the reception that you know you rightfully deserve.

The great thing about McDonald’s is that they have a lot of different things on the menu. I love their salads.

Dreams have only one owner at a time. That’s why dreamers are lonely.

I’ve never thought about songwriting as a weapon. I’ve only thought about it as a way to help me get through love and loss and sadness and loneliness and growing up.

I never could get over the fact that The Pixies formed, worked and separated without America taking them to its heart or even recognizing their existence for the most part.

People are always coming up to me and saying, ‚I heard your dad’s speech, and it’s really great.‘ And they’ll mention some place I didn’t even know my dad was going to.

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

I meet young people who know me and are familiar with my stuff. They know the package. They might have cherry-picked five or six key tunes. That’s how it seems to work. I sometimes wonder if they realise they are not getting the whole context.

I am alone; I am always alone no matter what.

It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.

There will be days when I walk in an arena and people will cheer and then there might be days when I walk in an arena and people might boo, but it all sounds the same to me because it’s all just noise that lets me know that I’m relevant.

It confuses me and disappoints me when somebody says, ‚What does he do? What does he do?‘ My records are some of the biggest anthems ever. What do you think, they magically just appear? Obama walked out to my record.

Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground.

The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.

Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.

It’s very hard when you eat out every day for a living, and a new restaurant comes along and you haven’t got that same vigour that you had 10 years ago.

The movies are the only business where you can go out front and applaud yourself.

Gee, its lonesome in the outfield. It’s hard to keep awake with nothing to do.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‚the book lady.‘ The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the ‚book lady‘ title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my life and with my success.

Sometimes, I feel like one who is on the sidelines, who has missed life itself.

I never needed much, and I never thought I’d get more than what I had. A trip to Burger King was the biggest thing in the world to me. Heaven.

I wanna thank MTV and the VMAs for choosing me to be a part of the show because, on this show, if you not an icon or upcomin‘ icon, you’re not on the show, you know?

I don’t like being alone.

You can’t reverse fame. You can lose all the money, but you’ll never lose people knowing you.

A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.

The concept of loneliness and exile and self-sufficiency continually bucks me up.

I don’t have time to be lonely. And I get fearful of relationships because I feel guilty about wanting someone to be completely faithful and loyal, when I can’t even give them 10 percent of the attention that they need. It’s just the reality of my time, my life, my schedule.

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

Because you know when you first become famous, you start walking a little different because people are staring at you.

I like to talk about lint and coasters, the expansion of the universe and maybe McDonald’s. I’m completely turned off by the idea of politics.

Honestly, I just go to restaurants to eat so I won’t die. If there was a pill I could take in January and then I wouldn’t have to eat again for the rest of the year, I would take it. Of course, I wouldn’t want to sacrifice my chocolate cake and ice cream.

The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.

I don’t think that my kind of journalism has ever been universally popular. It’s lonely out here.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

Too much self-centered attitude, you see, brings, you see, isolation. Result: loneliness, fear, anger. The extreme self-centered attitude is the source of suffering.

When you’re on the road and moving city to city, when someone isn’t there at the end of the night, you feel empty.

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.

What every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise although the philosophers generally call it recognition!

If I’m a star, then the people made me a star.

Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of the team you are, how much your contribution has been valued, what massive potential you have and, in recognition of all this, would you mind having your salary halved.

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.

As a sportsperson, the best thing is people recognising you and loving you for what you do. For me, glamour is 100 people in the hotel feeling happy to see you.

The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness.

When you have box-office results, Hollywood treats you different. Hollywood stands up. Once you get to the point where Hollywood sees that you create results, then the demand for you becomes higher.

When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.

When the people you love are gone, you’re alone.

They’ll forget all the rubbish when I’ve gone, and they’ll remember the football. If only one person thinks I’m the best player in the world, that’s good enough for me.