Quotes from Viv Albertine

My mother was so ignorant of what could have befallen me and was probably so exhausted - she was one of the first generation of single parents as well - that it was all a bit overwhelming. So the naivety of parents meant we did have a certain amount of freedom.

We grew up during the 'peace and love' of the 1960s, only to discover that there are wars everywhere, and love and romance is a con.

People think you're vulnerable when you tell the truth, but it's never hurt me.

I can't stand these autobiographies that start with, you know, 'I was born in Acton, and I went to such and such a school.' They just bore me.

It's amazing what your brain can do when all your senses are heightened.

I always love a song about London or about places. I think Britain could do with more of them; America is so good at that.

It is soul-destroying to have your work and physical appearance picked to pieces.

The more blows you have in life, the better, because it means you're challenging yourself.

There was an angry wave in the '70s, a strong feminist angry wave. I remember thinking - oh my God - I thought it was the beginning of something, and it all went quiet.

It's me who fixes the roof, unblocks the drain, and changes the plug. I'm Spartacus.

I haven't found music comforting since the '80s, but it doesn't mean it's not good - it just doesn't work for me. It's shocking to me because music was my religion from the age of 11, and it's like I don't believe in my god any more.

I never thought of myself as a strong person until I wrote my first book, and people started to say, 'You're a survivor. You're such a strong person.' It never ever occurred to me.

When I was pregnant, I prayed that my daughter would have brown, green, or grey eyes.

I could be completely mad and sound like David Icke, but I just find people with blue eyes colder, less passionate, and more calculated people.

I usually write at my kitchen table, nothing exotic. I don't need any equipment. I don't have to organise anyone else to rehearse, and when I do a reading, lots of women and girls come, whereas gigs are dominated by men. Not against men, but I want to communicate to women.

I have a lot of empathy, and I think that's where mothering starts. You are there to empathise and facilitate.

If you are an autodidact, you probably do write more in the rhythm of speech rather than having learnt prose.

Most female artists - to do what you have to do and to be as honest as you have to be, to be as selfish as you have to be, as tunnel-visioned as you have to be to make art, not entertainment - you can't compromise, really.

Mum had pumped me so full of anger, I couldn't throw it off.

Punk was such an exciting time because there were no rules. You could go and knock on Sun Ra's door - and he was in the phonebook, under Ra!

I still live very much by punk ethics, but in a more grown up way.

I absolutely wasn't going to write a book if it was just going to be about punk.

Punk inspired me.

I didn't pursue happiness at all. I've never pursued it. I wasn't brought up to pursue it.