Quotes from Jimmy Barnes

My dad was a prize fighter in his youth. My boxing skills are very limited. I did train for most of my youth but couldn't really see the point of getting punched in the head. I'm a lover, not a fighter, but I do enjoy the sport in its purest form. As a child, my heroes were my dad and Muhammad Ali.

I think it's criminal the way poverty is allowed to flourish.

I was actually wilder before I joined Cold Chisel. I was really wild.

When I hear a singer, I want them to be passionate and intense, and soul singers like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett always seemed to do exactly that.

In 1972, I climbed out of my bedroom window and ran away from home with my older sister and her friends to go to the infamous Sunbury rock festival.

I come from a multicultural family. My wife's Thai. My children are half-Asian, half-Scottish; we're all immigrants.

I never take for granted how great Australia is and how well I have been treated here, so thank you for this chance at making a good life.

I know I've made a lot of mistakes, but I've done some good things along the way.

I sat in on some songwriting classes, and it was really bloody hard, a lot of music theory. I'd be sitting there, and they'd be talking all this music theory, and the teacher would say, 'Let's ask our guest Jimmy what he thinks,' and I'd be sitting there thinking, 'Please don't ask me, please don't ask me.'

Don't take your friends for granted or that everyone is going to be OK.

I'm really happy with the way I am, and I've got a fantastic family and a great life, and I don't need anything else.

I'm happy to be recording and singing live. I have a great family, and a great bunch of people always come and see me sing. What more does a man need?

When I came to Australia, it was like heaven.

I used to think I was tough, but there's a difference between bravado and courage, and I only started to show courage when I began to get help. So now I make a point of telling people, 'Hey, it's a good thing to ask for help, not a bad thing.'

I came from a tough childhood. There was a lot of stuff that I'd actually forgotten or that I'd blocked or hidden away until I started addressing it.

There are new children arriving and trying to reach our lucky country every day, and I hope that we can all work together to help them find their dream, too.

I like people of faith, and I believe the more people who have spirituality, the better the world will be. It's about peace and tolerance.

One of my major regrets was that period in my life where I wasn't present in my kids' life. I was in another world.

Around 2001, I went to rehab in Arizona, and I started to see what was going on and how the past affected me. I started to get a grip on it. But over the next decade, I reverted to the behaviour I used to protect myself when I was young - being mindless, being defeatist and full of bravado.

I find that cooking is relaxing and makes me feel at home.

I was lucky I was blessed with the constitution of a horse.

All the religions are basically good, but there's something about organised religion that leads to corruptness and poison.

My family were very poor. We never owned a house, in fact, we were lucky if we could afford the rent. So when I bought my first home, it was a very emotional time for me.

You see politicians talking about negative gearing or tax on your second home - most people I knew growing up couldn't afford the rent, let alone buying a house, or a second house.