“I'm in awe of the universe, but I don't necessarily believe there's an intelligence or agent behind it. I do have a passion for the visual in religious rituals, though, even though they may be completely empty and bereft of substance. The incense is powerful and provocative, whether Buddhist or Catholic.”

“Bowie talks in great, voluble torrents, darting from one topic to the next, parenthesizing and then parenthesizing the parentheses, as if he has too many ideas for one conversation.”

“David Thomas: What do you think is the worst crime that could possibly be committed? What is the crime that offends you most?David Bowie: Seeing a man humble himself in his capacity as a worker to somebody else, and having to have that accepted as a given situation.”

“The bravest thing David Bowie ever did was to go on stage after Queen at Live Aid.”

“Written in pain, written in aweBy a puzzled man who questionedWhat we were here for”

“And you,You can be meanAnd I,I'll drink all the time'Cause we're lovers,And that is a factYes we're lovers,And that is that”

“David Bowie was my creative northstar, a muse, an inspiration to me from the age of 8. He was a special soul on a mission, and the mission is now complete. I know he is truly home now among the stars.”

“We can be heroes just for one day”

“And I saw the sax line-up that he had behind him and I thought, I'm going to learn the saxophone. When I grow up, I'm going to play in his band. So I sort of persuaded my dad to get me a kind of a plastic saxophone on the hire purchase plan.”

“I'm very at ease, and I like it. I never thought I would be such a family-oriented guy; I didn't think that was part of my makeup. But somebody said that as you get older you become the person you always should have been, and I feel that's happening to me. I'm rather surprised at who I am, because I'm actually like my dad!”

“I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.”