When a nation is over-reliant on one or two commodities like oil or precious minerals, corrupt government ministers and their dodgy associates hoard profits and taxes instead of properly allocating them to schools and hospitals.
BONOSadly, I do my homework. I’ve a soft spot for the boring minutiae. I read the Charter of the United Nations before meeting with Kofi Annan.
More Bono Quotes
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Facts, like people, want to be free – and when they’re free, liberty is usually around the corner.
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Music fills in for words a lot of the time when people don’t know what to say, and I think music can be more eloquent than words.
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What I like about pop music, and why I’m still attracted to it, is that in the end it becomes our folk music.
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The less you know, the more you believe.
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It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw.
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God is so big. It’s a gigantic concept in God.
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There was a moment when Prince did rock & roll with a sponge-y seductive sound. I think that’s what was in our head for ‘Get On Your Boots.’ But actually, the song is much more punk rock.
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Rock stars are good at making noise.
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But more than anything else, for the British folks Irish people were all terrorists. So when we went to Britain, it was always a lot of resistance to U2. And that’s why we came to America.
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I’m as skeptical as anyone would be about celebrities and causes – and I will dare to say to you that I don’t think of myself as a celebrity per se.
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U2 was involved in Live Aid, and I ended up going to Ethiopia and working there for some time with my wife, Ali.
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The idea that there is one kind of African is of course ridiculous. Sometimes African entrepreneurs want to kill you because you are saying public health is the priority, not roads.
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To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.
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The great gifts of models are not that they’re more beautiful than the next person, it’s that they’re able to be photographed and not be self-conscious.
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In my view, the only thing worse than a rock star is a rock star with a conscience.
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I get to hear the really good or the really bad things in the press, but I don’t read it. I can afford to say that because public opinion does not drive U2’s audience.
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Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Find out what God’s doing. It’s already blessed.
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I don’t know how U2 will stay relevant. I know we’ve got a future. I know we can fill stadiums. And yet with every record, I think, ‘Is this it? Are we still relevant?’
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You’ve got to watch the politics of AIDS. The politics of AIDS can work both for and against the victims of AIDS.
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Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to 400 million of the world’s poorest people.
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You can never completely fill that hole-you can try with songs,family,faith and by living a full life…but when things are silent, you can still hear the hissing of what’s missing.
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God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.
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I do see the good in people, but I also see the bad — I see it in myself. I know what I’m capable of. Good and bad. It’s very imnportant that we make that clear. Just because I often find a way around the darkness doesn’t mean tjat I don’t know it’s there. (Bono)
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If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.
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I put Catholic guilt to work pretty good for a rich rock star.
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I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it’s to be true and not cover up the cracks.
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