Brian May Quotes

Each gig should be unique. You're always treading that line between keeping yourself fresh and giving people something they want to hear

When I'm gone, people will no doubt remember me for Queen, but I would much rather be remembered for attempting to change the way we treat our fellow creatures.

I never took sheet music seriously. I could do better myself just by listening to other people and using my own intuition.

I really thought I was pretty good before I saw Hendrix, and then I thought: Yeah, not so good.

The biggest emotion in creation is the bridge to optimism.

There is no way that you can ever really repeat something. I have this great belief that the magic of the moment can never be recaptured.

I think music is about our internal life. It’s part of the way people touch each other. That’s very precious to me. And astronomy is, in a sense, the very opposite thing. Instead of looking inwards, you are looking out, to things beyond our grasp.

I have to build my own boat this time. It's a big sea out there, and I have a pretty small boat. I have a lot of belief in it.

It's wonderful for me to see what 'We Will Rock You' has done. 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are the Champions' have kind of transcended the normal framework of where music is listened to and appreciated - they've become part of public life, which I feel wonderful about.

What is left of your dream? Just the words on your stone. A man who learned how to teach then forgot how to learn.

The guitar has a kind of grit and excitement possessed by nothing else.

I despise the Lottery. There's less chance of you becoming a millionaire than there is of getting hit on the head by a passing asteroid.

Queen songs tend to be about very personal things: personal dreams and personal ambitions.

The guitar was my weapon, my shield to hide behind.

There are a lot of things in Queen albums that you don't expect; that's why we threw them in

Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer

I was an incurable romantic then, same as I am now. I was always pining away after somebody

George Harrison was a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous guitarist, and a wonderful example of what a rock star should be. I totally revered him as an innovator. He was always fresh, daring, magnificently melodic, full of spiritual quality, and totally conscious of the chord structure beneath the solo. And he had the courage to play simple. He never took refuge in effects, or tried to impress with speed. I hope he knew how much we all loved and respected him.

I go through major crises every few months, but then I have great peaks of belief and creativity. I'm a weird kind of animal

There are times when I flick through magazines and think I'm in danger of becoming a prisoner of my own hair.

There are times when I've been feeling something and played a solo that I've never been able to repeat.

...I think the popular view of Science is a solid body of truth, shared by a whole lot of learned men in a room, all agreeing on the answers to the questions of how the Universe works. Whereas nothing could be further from the truth!!! The one truth that I see emerging from the History of Science is that experiment has always surprised theorists. Einstein included!

Queen songs are not about the life of a rock star - they tend to be about the lives of normal people, which is why I think the songs connect so much. We're very lucky that they seemingly connect with every generation.

I'm not a person for sitting on beaches. What would I do?

I'm into paradoxes. I wanted to make an album about them, but the group told me I was a pretentious fart. They were right.

I had this big thing about guitar harmonies. I wanted to be the first to put proper three-part harmonies onto a record. That was an achievement.

You got blood on your face, you big disgrace, waving your banner all over the place.

Everybody thought I was a bit of an eccentric for wanting to be out there looking at the stars, but I still do

I tend to be not a person who does everything right all the time.

There's nothing I'm embarrassed about

The Wedding March has a bit of a death march in it.

I'm the nice guy who sits there signing everything that's put in front of me.

I like a big neck – thick, flat and wide. I lacquered the fingerboard with Rustin's Plastic Coating. The tremolo is interesting in that the arm's made from an old bicycle saddle bag carrier, the knob at the end's off a knitting needle and the springs are valve springs from an old motorbike.

Sanctions always hurt the poor, the weak, the children.

We've done an arrangement with an orchestra, but I think the best stuff tends to come when it's just the four of us.

A good video can make all the difference

Every time I listen to Jeff Beck my whole view of guitar changes radically. He's way, way out, doing things you never expect.

On the first few albums the songs would grow into strange shapes.

I just want to be able to play as fast as my brain goes, and my brain doesn't go all that fast.

I'm hopeless at playing scales. Try and be instinctive first and analytic afterwords, although it's good to study the theory of music.

I had this idea... I wanted the sound to sing and have that thickness but yet still have an edge so that it could articulate. So my dad and I designed the guitar... the one that was made from an old fireplace.

I spent 20 years of my life building up Queen, and now Im spending years of my life trying to get away from it.

Doing Made In Heaven was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, but I wouldn't have put my seal of approval on it if I hadn't thought it was up to standard.

I think a lot of people would be better off in America, where at least you would find some radio station somewhere that would play you.

From the beginning of Queen there was such momentum that I never had any time to do anything else. My energy was 95% focused on the band

I'm pretty basic as far as technique is concerned. I don't use many gadgets, and I like the sound my guitar makes, anyway.

This man (FreddieMercury) truly possessed the greatest voice in the history of rock. Journalists, culture experts and analysts have already made several hundred comments on this topic and nothing can be added here.

I tend not to write on guitar very often. I tend to start off with keyboards.

The first nine albums there was never a Synthesiser, never any Orchestra. There was never any other player except us on the albums.

I like to go for a walk or swimming or in the garden when I can. It's a busy kind of life, but I guess I'm lucky.