Bjork Quotes

1. I'm a fountain of blood. In the shape of a girl.



2. I do believe sometimes discipline is very important. I'm not just lying around like a lazy cow all the time.

3. There's no map to human behaviour.

4. Compared to America or Europe, God isn't a big part of our lives here. I don't know anyone here who goes to church when he's had a rough divorce or is going through depression. We go out into nature instead.

5. It's incredible how nature sets females up to take care of people, and yet it is tricky for them to take care of themselves.





6. Football is a fertility festival. Eleven sperm trying to get into the egg. I feel sorry for the goalkeeper.

7. For a person as obsessed with music as I am, I always hear a song in the back of my head, all the time, and that usually is my own tune. I've done that all my life.

8. I always wanted to be a farmer. There is a tradition of that in my family.

9. I get obsessed by little nerdy things in my corner that no one else is interested in.

10. I love England. It's no coincidence it's the first place I moved to for a more cosmopolitan life, which is the only thing Iceland lacks.



11. I would like to teach music. It's weird the way they teach music in schools like Julliard these days.

12. I am a grateful... grapefruit.

13. I am one of the most idiosyncratic people around.

14. I get embarrassed listening to my last CDs. I've got a lot of work to do, let's put it that way.

15. I love being a very personal singer-songwriter, but I also like being a scientist or explorer.

16. I sometimes fall into the trap of doing what I think I should be doing rather than what I want to be doing.

17. I'd done three solo albums in a row, and that's quite narcissistic.

18. I'm a bit of a nerd, I wouldn't mind working in a shop selling records, or having a radio show where I could play obscure singles.

19. I'm not going to talk like I know about politics, because I'm a total amateur, but maybe I can be a spokesperson for people who aren't normally interested in politics.

20. If nothing else, I have money.

21. It's funny how the hippies and the punks tried to get rid of the conservatives, but they always seem to get the upper hand in the end.

22. Maybe I'll be a feminist in my old age.

23. Nature is our chapel. 

24. Now that rock is turning 50, it's become classical in itself. It's interesting to see that development.


25. People are always asking me about eskimos, but there are no eskimos in Iceland.

26. People that complete other people's vision are understated.

27. The English can be a very critical, unforgiving people, but criticism can be good. And this is a country that loves comedy.

28. The reason I do interviews is because I'm protecting my songs.

29. There is this stereotype of Icelanders all believing in spirits, and I've played up to that a bit in interviews.

30. Usually when you see females in movies, they feel like they have these metallic structures around them, they are caged in by male energy.

31. When I was a teenager in Iceland people would throw rocks and shout abuse at me because they thought I was weird. I never got that in London no matter what I wore.

32. There are certain emotions in your body that not even your best friend can sympathize with, but you will find the right film or the right book, and it will understand you.

33. I mean, the human race, we are a tribe, let's face it, and let's stop all this religious bullshit. I think everybody, or at least a lot of my friends, are just so exhausted with this whole self-importance of religious people. Just drop it. We're all f... animals, so let's just make some universal tribal beat. We're pagan. Let's just march.

34. I'm a whisper in water.

35. I never really understood the word "loneliness". As far as I was concerned, I was in an orgy with the sky and the ocean, and with nature.

36. I'm no buddhist, but this is fu**ing enlightmentment!

37. Emotions weren’t created to just lie around. You should experience things to the full. I’ve got a sense of the clock ticking. We have to feel all those things to the maximum. Like, I don’t eat a lot but I really love eating. And I like being precise and particular. There is a certain respect in that. If you can do your day depending on how you feel, and enjoy things as well.

38. I thrive best hermit style.With a beard and a pipe.

39. It seems that most the world is driven by the eye, right? They design cities to look great but they always sound horrible…They design telephones to look great, but they sound horrible. I think it was about time that the other senses were celebrated.

40. If you feel like a train is running through your head, it is. And if you feel like putting eggs inside your bottom, you should. (Details)

41. Life wins death - one-nil. (Bust#8 Fall 1996)

42. A keyboard shall not pretend it is a violin; it shall be proud to be a keyboard. (Aftonbladet June 1996)

43. Singing is like a celebration of oxygen. (Arena March 1996) 

44. I am very stupid, I am intelligent, I'm clumsy, I'm a coward, I'm funny. I'm witty, I'm a five year old and I'm a sixty year old, and I don't want to let any of these things go. (Blink)

45. You can be creative just by driving a taxi but you have a great sense of humor - I consider that very creative. (Bust#8 Fall 1996)

46. Inside...We're all still wet.

47. I don't like in-between stuff. I love really, really sweet stuff like chocolate cakes and then I love curry, vindaloo, do you know what I mean? I guess I'm an over emotional person. I'm very, very happy or I'm very, very this or very, very that. Always two verys. (Hot Press 1994) 

48. I identify with polar bears. They're very cuddly and cute and quite calm, but if they meet you they can be very strong. They come to Iceland very rarely, once every ten years, floating on icebergs. (Interview 1995)

49. You just have to be an airplane and watch the city from above. Just watch. And this place is alive, and if you're not going to be alive, and refuse all those things in, you're f... (Details)

50. It's your duty to use what you've got and not just put yourself to sleep or function like a robot. It doesn't matter what job you do, to wake up in the morning and actually find that day exciting is the biggest victory you can do. (Bust#8 Fall 1996)

51. Just at the moment, I'm quite obsessed with zero. (Arena March 1995)

52. That's my mother, the ocean. (Interview 1995)

53. I think everyone should sing. No two people tend to sing the same way; it's like fingerprints. (1995) 

54. I go all the way to the bottom but then I go whooooooosh! That's a very Icelandic thing. A Viking, hardcore, don't-feet-sorry-for-yourself attitude. When I laugh, I laugh really loud. You have to hurt yourself laughing or it's no good. (Hot Press 1994)

55. I have to click people into now. What are you feeling now? That's what I'm about. (Arena March 1995)

56. My favourite subject at school was mathematics - which is closely related to music. People who get one usually get the other. (Arena March 1995)

57. I have to re-create the universe every morning when I wake up. And kill it in the evening. 
(Interview 1995)

58. I' ve got a purple allergy now. (Arena March 1995)

59. I've always been a bit soft on scientists and men who can work miracles with their brains. And, oh yeah, my grandmother. She's sixty eight and she goes camping and paints and just lives life large. I want to be like her. I'm in a situation now that I'll probably never be in again, I can go into a studio and I don't have to worry about the bill. I bought myself a compuler the other day that I can draw pictures on to suit the music. I don't have to fight so hard for things now but I might again. And, when I do I pray that I'll be as self- sufficient as my grandmother. (Hot Press 1994) 

60. I get quite defensive when people think I'm really untogether and airy-fairy. They think I'm this sort of elf. A side of me is, but the other side of me is a single mother who's had to fight, hardcore. (Entertainment Weekly)

61. The moment you're trying to satisfy others than yourself, you're not satisfying anyone. That's my little theory. (Agenda September 1993)

62. When my friends show their ugly sides to me, I'm almost honored. (Bust#8 Fall 1996)

63. I think no two people have the same religion. (Arena March 1995) 

64. I think that your mind can create almost anything, and that is true for you. Your mind and imagination is fact. (Arena March 1995) 



65. I'm claustrophobic and I'm obsessed with oxygen. I can't deal with smoke or pollution of any kind. (Hot Press 1994) 

66. I find it very tiring when people think magic is like in David Copperfield or like the Ghostbusters. I believe, I'm very much into magic and fairies. Yeah. I'm probably the biggest fan of magic realism there is. You know, Lorca, Frida Kahlo. The sagas of Iceland are similar to that: down-to-earth, common-sense, bread-and-butter. It is real. And I don't believe in escapism, fantasy, I believe in the magic that is just there. But I can't, say, write out my life because that would kill it. I don't want to know what happens next, you know? That's very important to me. (Bust#8 Fall 1996)

67. I've got the right to be an idiot and I've got the right to be clever, both at the same time, and I refuse to be only one or the other. I insist to be happy. I make an effort not to forget all those different colors: to get hilariously drunk sometimes and to pay all my electricity bills and to forget what time it is and run a band without a fault. (Details)

68. If you're just a consumer, it gets to a point where you don't get a kick out of it any more, Oh, another glass of champagne. So f... what? (Arena March 1995)

69. I feel very strongly that the world is full of actors who are racing car drivers, and racing car drivers that are actors. (Blink) 

70. I believe typefaces have symbolic meanings. (Agenda September 1993)

71. I'm supposed to be run by Pluto. It's like a fairy tale, it simplifies things. (Interview 1995)

72. I'm obsessed with boats. It's freedom. (Interview 1995)

73. All people have their own way of dealing with everyday problems. Some go for walks, others get drunk and some get laid. I write songs. (Agenda September 1993) 

74. If you rehearse for the sake of it it's like rehearsing sex, before you have sex. You don't go to your partner and say: "Let's rehearse a bit and then we'll f... after one hour." It doesn't make any sense. (Arena March 1995)

75. I've got my own religion. Iceland set a world record. The United Nations asked people from all over the world a series of questions. Iceland stuck out on one thing. When we were asked what do we believe, 90 % said: "ourselves". I think I'm in that group. If I get into trouble, there's no God or Allah to sort me out. I have to do it myself. (Hot Press 1994)

76. Language is like a signpost. Sort of saying: "OK, if you turn right here, you'll meet a happy feeling. And if you turn second left there, you'll get a bit melancholic and start reminiscing". That's what language is about.  (Arena March 1995)

77. I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated by water. It's easy to see it as a kind of symbolism, but I think it's more complex. My house on Iceland lies close by the sea, and in bad weather the waves spray unto the windows. If I was in bad mood, I would stand by the window and look out on the water; that would make me feel good. It was a sort of therapy.(Agenda September 1993)

78. The more selfish you are, the more unselfish you are in reality. (Agenda September 1993)

79. In Iceland, even the hippies are workaholics. (Hot Press 1994)

80. By the time I was seven I was completely bored with guitar and drums. (Hot Press 1994)

81. Everything's geared toward self-sufficiency. F... that. For me, the target is to learn how to communicate with other people, which is the hardest thing, after all. What you should be doing is learning how to live with other human beings. (Interview 1995)

82. I started singing with the whole of my body. The engineers usually end up using the same kind of microphones as they put on a stand-up bass, because it's got a big body. (Interview 1995)

83. But with all those occult things, you can use them either way. Some people use them to make excuses for themselves. But you can use them another way, because there's more to things than we can see. (Arena March 1995)

84. If teenagers in Iceland are young and angry they don't form punk bands, they write poetry. And then they get drunk and shout it at each other. Not because they're so intelligent, as English people seem to imagine you must be if you're connected with books, it's just a cultural thing. (Arena March 1995) 



85. My biggest strength and my greatest weakness is that I can't do the same thing twice. It has to be spontaneous. That's why I'm doing pop, not some contemporary modern minimalist shit. (Arena March 1995)

86. I've got a lot of courage, but I've also got a lot of fear. You should allow yourself to be scared. It's one of the prime emotions. You might almost enjoy it, funny as it sounds, and find that you can get over it and deal with it. If you ignore these things, you miss so much. (Interview 1995)

87. We'd all get drunk at weekends and write these weirdo pop songs and then when we had enough we could go on holiday as The Sugarcubes. (Hot Press 1994)




88. I have been obsessed with playing on glass. Mozart made a glass organ with big bowls made of glass immersed in water. When you play on it, it sounds like you're rubbing a brandy glass. (Aftonbladet June 1996)

89. Everyone is bisexual: I’ve always had as many powerful, creative ladies in my life as I have men, and you could probably describe some of those relationships as romantic. I think everyone’s bisexual to some degree or another; it’s just a question of whether or not you choose to recognize it and embrace it. Personally, I think choosing between men and women is like choosing between cake and ice cream. You’d be daft not to try both when there are so many different flavors. (Diva magazine, October 2004)

90. But… but… these are the people that made the Busby Berkeley movies, yeah? So they're not exactly subtle. (Explaining her "Swan Dress" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno)

91. I don't like records that are the same from beginning to end, that are too styled and slick. Everything is so designed and airbrushed and Botoxed, it makes us think: "Oh, everybody's perfect except me. Everything's smooth except me." But nothing is smooth. (From Newsweek, September 6 2004 issue, defending a song claimed to be "really hard to listen to" ("Ancestors") from her album Medúlla)

92. It's interesting for me to bring up a girl. You go to the toy store and the female characters there - Cinderella, the lady in Beauty and the Beast - their major task is to find Prince Charming. And I'm like, wait a minute - it's 2005! We've fought so hard to have a say, and not just live through our partners, and yet you're still seeing two-year-old girls with this message pushed at them that the only important thing is to find this amazing dress so that the guy will want you. It's something my mum pointed out to me when I was little - so much that I almost threw up - but she's right. (From The Observer, March 13 2005 issue, asserting for the first time the appeal to her of feminist ideology)

93. It's a big question. Getting rid of religion would be a good start, wouldn't it? It seems to be causing a lot of havoc. (When asked "Given the chance, how would you change the world?"- Independent, 18 March 2005.)

94. I was talking to a friend about it recently and I told him that the thing about making that film that upset me most was how cruel Lars is to the woman he is working with. Not that I can't take it, because I'm pretty tough and completely capable of defending myself, but because my ideals of the ultimate creator were shattered. And my friend said "What did you expect? All major directors are "sexist", a maker is not necessarily an expert in human rights or female/male equality!My answer was that you can take quite sexist film directors like Woody Allen or Stanley Kubrick and still they are the one that provide the soul to their movies. In Lars von Trier's case it is not so and he knows it. He needs a female to provide his work soul. And he envies them and hates them for it. So he has to destroy them during the filming. And hide the evidence. What saves him as an artist, though, is that he is so painfully honest that even though he will manage to cover up his crime in the "real" world (he is a genius to set things up that everybody thinks it is just his female-actress-at-the-moment imagination, that she is just hysterical or pre-menstrual), his films become a documentation of this "soul-robbery". Breaking the Waves is the clearest example of that. (From the www.bjork.com, posted by Björk in response to a question about her conflict with director Lars von Trier during the production of "Dancer in the Dark")

95. You know, it's ironic that just at the point the lawyers and the businessmen had calculated how to control music, the internet comes along and f... everything up." Björk gives the finger again, this time waving it into the air. "God bless the internet. And what about you, then? "I'll still be there, waving a pirate flag. ("Waving a pirate flag; Björk: seditious superstar" by Valur Gunnarsson, Reykjavik Grapevine)

96. I find it very difficult to draw a line between what's sex and what isn't. It can be very, very sexy to drive a car, and completely unsexy to flirt with someone at a bar.

97. I feel in a lot of ways Volta is Post 2. Very restless and sort of schizophrenic. Promiscuous in collaborations, but sincere. It's consistent in its restlessness. (About her album "Volta" - 2007)

98. The album's very much about being alone in your house, in a very quiet sort of introverted mood and you whisper, you sort of improvise. Which is between me and myself. (about her album "Vespertine")






99. I look at the news, I see people starving, I am crying. I'm a total mess. You try to think how you're going to break through this cobweb of problems and bureaucracy and how on Earth anybody is going to make any change. (Live 8 press conference, 7-4-2005)

100. I don't like drinking with food, I think Iceland people are a bit old-school like that - we think if you drink with food then you're an alcoholic ... but if you drink lots, on a Friday night…(2007)

101. I like the creative angle. Where people express themself. But I don't like it when it's too much of people being told what to do, and too much like ... fascism, of magazines telling women to starve them-self, and they obey! Or they're like "out of fashion", which is the worst crime you could ever commit! So they get executed for it, publicly! It makes women very unhappy. (2007)

102. Right now, I feel like I look exhausted, because I'm tired. I'm not vain, like: I want to look pretty. That's never bothered me. But if I see a photograph of me and I look tired, then I'd be more worried than if I looked ugly. (2007)

103. "Gling-Gló" was a bigger seller in Iceland than "Debut" and all the Sugarcubes' albums put together! That tells you a lot about Iceland.

104. Being a musician is very easy. My house is full of musical instruments. There's a lot of music, always. But…I don't really go to premieres and hang out with Puff Daddy. (2007)

105. I want to work on my character. I think it's in there, a good person. I don't believe in just doing good things, I want to feed my demon as well. One should learn to live both the demon and the angel, you know? But I have a way to go. People excite me, they turn me on. A new person can trigger things in you that you didn't even know you had. If it's musical that's even better. The unknown turns me on.

106. It seems to me that the politicians of the rich countries are almost like this VIP that are untouchable - and then the rest of the public of their own countries and of all the other countries of the world are like the other" chunk that don't have a voice…so, I would like to say that I am part of that huge chunk, which actually is about…95% of the world! (Live 8 press conference, 7-4-2005)

107. People think that I'm too eccentric, so it's never going to work. I've always loved pop and leftfield music. My record company thought that "Debut" wasn't going to sell. I said: I don't care. I really have to do this or I'll go insane. You've just got to do what you do. I came from a punk background, so there was no way that I was ever going to compromise with my music. I have this utopian view that the common person - like your gran, or the guy who works in the sandwich shop - actually wants an adventure, to hear something they've never heard before. I might seem leftfield, but I'm really not trying to be weird, you know. (Telegraph interview, 21/07/2005)

108. When I was growing up, I always had the feeling I was dropped from somewhere else. That's how I was treated at school in Iceland where the kids used to call me china girl" and everybody thought I was unusual because I looked Chinese.

109. The reason I do photographs is to help people understand my music, so it's very important that I am the same, emotionally, in the photographs as in the music. Most people's eyes are much better developed than their ears. If they see a certain emotion in the photograph, then they'll understand the music. (Index Magazine, July 2001)

110. Sometimes doing the same thing for a really long time freaks me out, routine freaks me out. But then again, always doing new things can be lazy...it's tricky. I can be very sneaky with myself.

111. After doing the research with all the vocals on "Medúlla", I was very curious to take that further to a place that was not narrative. Then, when Matthew explained that the film happens on the ocean, I was curious to make vocal patterns that were sort of oceanic. My music is very much about structure, whereas Matthew is much more abstract. I have to have a map and a compass to see the . nal point before I start the journey, and then I can meet 10 lions or whatever. (Telegraph interview, 21/07/2005)

112. What probably confuses people is they know a lot about me, but it quite pleases me that there's more they don't know.

113. Trying to even start to explain the film is kind of challenging, but with my little alcohol-pickled brain, it's really tough. I guess that's the point with the way Matthew sets it up, because there is no story. You just have to sit there and enjoy it, a bit like nature. The film has a narrative, but a really abstract one. It's not your average Hollywood movie, let's put it that way. (About Drawing Restraint 9 - Telegraph interview)

114. Sometimes when I write lyrics there are images in them, usually on a quite simplistic level, like colors. But most often music comes first and then later I sit down with visual people and we chat about what we want to do. I don't look at myself as a visual artist. I make music. (2007)

115. I am incredibly honored to have been asked to write a song and sing it at the Olympics. The song is written from the point of view of the ocean that surrounds all the land and watches over the humans to see how they are doing after millions of years of evolution. It sees no borders, different races or religion which has always been at the core of these games. (About the 2004 Olympics opening ceremony)

116. I'm pretty comfortable with it when it comes to experience, maturity, er, wisdom; but I'd be lying if I said that it don't piss me off that I don't have the same energy I used to have when I was 20. (On being 41 - 2007)

117. I knew when I said yes that this would be not only my first role but also my last one. I'm very happy that it's to be this one." Asked whether she might one day reconsider, she said: "I have to do records now. I only have 50 years left, and I've got a lot of records to make. (After winning best actress award at Cannes)

118. I love being a very personal singer-songwriter, but I also like being a scientist or explorer.

119. Feminists bore me to death. I follow my instinct and if that supports young girls in any way, great. But I'd rather they saw it more as a lesson about following their own instincts rather than imitating somebody.

120. Getting rid of religion would be a good start, wouldn't it?

121. Iceland sets a world-record. The United Nations asked people from all over the world a series of questions. Iceland stuck out on one thing. When we were asked what do we believe, 90% said: "ourselves". I think I'm in that group. If I get into trouble, there's no God or Allah to sort me out. I have to do it myself.

122. I do not believe in religion, but if I had to choose one, it would be Buddhism. It seems more livable, closer to men.

123. I've been reading about reincarnation, and the Buddhists say we come back as animals and they refer to them as lesser beings. Well, animals aren't lesser beings, they're just like us. So I say f... the Buddhists.


124. Although the war has been destructive and disastrous, the good thing is that people actually want to have a say.

125. Both sides are waiting for their Messiah to arrive. And then people point their fingers at us and say we are superstitious.

126. For the first time since the Vietnam War, there seems a universal feeling among common people that they don't agree with the people who are ruling the world.


127. I became really aware of my muscles and bones. Your body just takes over and does incredible things.

128. I do try and wear stuff by unknown designers.

129. I encouraged everyone to express themselves and imagine they were a human drum loop or bassline.

130. I gave everything I've got and a lot more, so I feel very proud of the film. I know all my heart is in there, and that's all I can do.

131. I just think I should do music. I think that's where I'm at my best.

132. I miss the music, the people and the feeling of acceptance.

133. I should just follow my heart and be spontaneous.

134. I was really into giving my interior up to someone else.

135. In the 1990s, there was a lot of optimism: we thought we'd finally sorted out equal rights for men and women, and then suddenly it just crashed.

136. It's really liberating to do a project that's not just about me.

137. It's the law of nature that it all settles again, so you have to keep checking on yourself.



138. Now, even supermodels are discussing international affairs between themselves.

139. People are learning more about Islam. We're becoming aware of things we didn't know about before.

140. Stupid American racism and patriotism. What about the human soul? What happened before we got involved in problematic things like civilization and religion and nationhood?

141. The media like drama so it's "She's in Hell." And I'm like no, I had a bad day in February and a bad day in September but a brilliant summer.


142. We set up a portable computer. Ninety percent of this album was recorded in bedrooms and hotel rooms between cooking and talking and chilling out.

143. With a lot of this music, I was in the studio for 12 or 16 hours a day, for a year. You just sit in there with big bags under your eyes and a cup of coffee.

144. With the Internet, people are going to have to ask themselves whether they want to go into music even if they may not become multimillionaires.


145. You have to be careful in what areas you put discipline, like maintenance or making sure there's electricity in your house or food in the fridge. You have to nurture these things.

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