Perspective is the cure for depression.
It's a privilege to serve the poor, to be servants of noble Africans, but I better belong in the rehearsal room or in the studio with my band. That's where I want to be and I still wake up in the morning with melodies in my head.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the joy of music while acknowledging the importance of service to those in need.
In this quote, Bono expresses a deep appreciation for the privilege of serving and helping the impoverished, particularly noble Africans, yet he confesses that his true passion lies in creating music with his band. This highlights the tension between fulfilling social responsibilities and pursuing personal passions, ultimately emphasizing the importance of staying true to one's artistic vocation while recognizing the value of service to others.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a charity event to inspire musicians to contribute to social causes while pursuing their art.
More from Bono
All quotes →At a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action.
It's much easier to be successful than it is to be relevant. The tricks won't keep you relevant. Tricks might keep you popular for a while, but in all honesty, 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?'
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. 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.
Hanging out with politicians and corporations is very unhip work. But I think that the U2 audience have turned out to be incredibly subtle in their understanding.
Until it's on the radio or online, it's not real. With U2, our album isn't finished until it's in the stores.
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There is reason to suspect, that the distinctions of mankind have more show than value, when it is found that all agree to be weary alike of pleasures and of cares; that the powerful and the weak, the celebrated and obscure, join in one common wish, and implore from nature's hand the nectar of oblivion.
In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent.
I defy you to find any real will, any reasoning force, outside of life. And everything is there; there is, in the world, no other will than this force which impels everything to life, a life even broader and higher.