“Seeing people’s faces, really getting off on them, makes me incredibly happy. Genuinely.”

The idea of a hypnotic riff as the prime mover of a piece of music has been around for a long time, whether you’re talking about the Delta blues or music from Middle Eastern and African cultures.

I deal in emotions. It’s the harmonic side that’s important. That’s the side I expected to be much further along on than I am now. That just means to say that I’ve got to keep at it.

There’s so much that can be done on the guitar. And that’s what is so good about the guitar – everyone can really enjoy themselves on it and have a good time, which is what it’s all about.

From the classical guitar right through to the furthest electrical experiments and everything in-between, it’s amazing what the guitar can actually do. I mean, when one thinks about sounds.

Domesticity and all that isn’t really for me.

The element of change has been the thing, really. We put out the first one, then the second… then a third LP totally different from them. It’s the reason we were able to keep it together.

The way I see it, rock & roll is folk music. Street music. It isn’t taught in school. It has to be picked up.

The key to Zeppelin’s longevity has been change.

I don’t know whether I’ll reach 40. I don’t know whether I’ll reach 35. I can’t be sure about that. I am bloody serious. I am very, very serious. I didn’t think I’d make 30.

I’m at my best when I’m exhausted and under pressure.

You can’t buy time. Everything, for me, seems to be a race against time. Especially musically.

I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.

All my houses are isolated. Many is the time I just stay home alone.

Music is the one thing that has been consistently there for me. It hasn’t let me down.

Every musician wants to do something which will hold up for a long time, and I guess we did it with ‘Stairway to Heaven.’

The greatest satisfaction is not the decoration. It is knowing that I am able to help someone who needs help.

You can find beauty in the darkest of places. Be the light, my love. Bring smiles to their faces.

People think your success is just a matter of having a pretty face. But it’s easy to be chewed up and spat out. You’ve got to stay ahead of the game to be able to stay in it.

As I comb my hair I find a grey one stands out among all blacks. I’m too like that grey hair, lonely among familiar faces.

I still find myself searching the crowds for your face.

When people see an actor speak, they think they know him or her, whereas I’m just a face or a body to them.

People who cannot see through souls will keep searching for beauty in faces and will never find it.

This is face blindness, but not really it. Among all the faces I see, I could only see yours.

You can be a pretty face, but if you’re not a nice person, it just doesn’t work.