Quotes from Jimmy Barnes

If there was one thing I tried to instil in my children as they were growing up, it was that you get nothing for nothing. You have to work hard to get any rewards. That applies in music or whatever you choose to do. The same goes in relationships; you will only get back what you put in.

I always wanted to be in a rock band, but I wanted to sing like a soul singer.

Partners fall in and out of love, but they still need each other.

It's one of the beautiful things about Australia that people do get to share this life here, away from trouble.

People change naturally when they have children.

I'm good at maintaining a face. If you've got that bravado, and people expect anything from you, then you'll get away with anything.

You should fight for every breath you have.

I have very strong memories of my early years. In fact, I remember the house I was born in, and we moved from that house when I was less than ten months old. I have drawn pictures of it and shown my mother, and she was shocked because we have no photos of the place, and I was very accurate.

Where I lived in Glasgow looked like Dresden after the war. It was a bomb site. I don't think I'd ever played football on grass until I moved to Australia.

I can't stand a house to be dirty or even messy, even. I am a bit OCD. Wash the dishes when you finish eating.

When I first started, all the reviews of Cold Chisel would say, 'This singer won't have a voice in six months.'

When I was 18 in Cold Chisel, I didn't want to make it to 21. Who wants to be that old?

I used to think anyone with abandonment issues was a waste of space. But you do need to get help. Blokes don't talk about those things. It's a taboo in the bloke world.

I wouldn't give Peter Dutton any of my time. It's a waste of time speaking to someone like him because they just spread lies and propaganda. He doesn't represent me, he doesn't care about people, and I wouldn't give him the time of day, to tell you the truth.

I used to think that if someone asked for help, they were weak. But the toughest thing I ever did was reach out and ask for help. And that was when I started to heal.

The best times in Cold Chisel were when we were all in the back of the car together, us against the world.

Jim Swan was my father, but Reg Barnes was my dad.

Everything affects you, and it doesn't measure how tough you are by being a rock and sitting by yourself. People need to talk. It's not a sign of weakness.

Songs are like sign posts in my life.

I grew up in poverty. I was ashamed of the fact, when we were kids, we'd be at school hungry, our stomachs rumbling so we couldn't concentrate.

I know that life is full of lessons to be learned, and my children will have to learn their own, but I hope I have broken the cycle of shame and fear that plagued my childhood.

As a teenager, I didn't really think about anything. I was just stumbling around trying to find something.

Politicians have been spreading fear, saying if we're letting in refugees, we're letting in terrorists. It's not the truth. We've got to recognise the difference between terrorism and people who are refugees; people who are struggling.

I love my mum and dad, but they were shocking providers and carers.