Like many of you Nick fans, I love to hear Nick talk (and yes, he does have an incredibly sexy voice, hasn't he?). Here are some quotes I've plucked from various interviews that I especially like. I've inserted the year that the respective quote was uttered; but some are just approximate years. Anyway, read on dear visitor and enjoy.

"[I'd love to live] when they used to wear those hideous things that came to the knee and the the big socks, and paint beauty marks." early 80s

"I think the image was very important for us, after the music. Let's face it, everybody who's been massive in the past 20 years has had a bloody strong image." early 80s

"I'm a true split personality - split between fun and lots of fun!" early 80s

"People used to say that Duran Duran had gay overtones and must therefore have an enormous gay following. But they discovered that we had more of a girl following than a gay one. I suppose we have adopted a certain flamboyance which for some reason has always been associated with gays and not everybody finds that easy to accept...this is just an example of people's attempts to separate everything into categories...it seems silly to me because gay people are exactly the same as everybody else except for their sexual habits." early 80s

"I don't define success to do with money. I think success is being natural, and not changing your personality for what you're doing, yet being accepted and being respected by a lot of people for the work or art you are producing." early 80s

"Duran Duran to me is an instrument of which we can change the size, shape, direction, or flexibility at any stage." early 80s

"I long for the summer because it means I can eat as many strawberries as I like! However, now that Duran Duran have become rich and famous I can even indulge in my favorite treat in the winter!" early 80s

"I've done very well for myself. I went shopping for electronics in Hong Kong, clothes in Japan and junk in Manila!" early 80s

"I had to sit down and listen to this rather tall, skinny - almost ugly - screaming dragon teach a bunch of idiots and me to read and write." early 80s, on this first day of school

"I'd rather predict fashion than be a part of it." 1982

"To tell you the truth, the things I dislike in the others are really things I envy. Simon can be bright and bouncy after a twenty-minute nap. Andy never seems to sing off key. Roger's hair never goes out of place like mine does and John and I have a habit of buying the same things to wear, even though we never shop together." 1983

"I'm a strong believer in 'meritocracy' - you get what you deserve. You've got to work hard." 1983

"I don't like being ill. I've only been to the doctor's once in 15 years, and I'm a real baby about it [laughs]." 1983

"We play a role in the entertainment business which has been necessary for a long time because it gives people enjoyment." 1983

"I like being driven around...I can drive, but I failed the test so I thought it's just as easy for me driving because my mind wanders all the time. I can't concentrate at all, I get bored very easily. There are other forms of transport that I can use. I can walk...I could even run if I needed to get there in a hurry...fundamental things seem to get pushed aside, I'm more concerned with the artistic side." 1983

"I'm very outgoing. I like unsual things. I am the most fashion-conscious in the band and like picking my own fashions. I'm generally very calm, and am good at calming things down. I'm a good person to talk to, and a good listener as well as I'm a Gemini." 1983

"Simplicity is the art of success!" 1983

"I was quite fascinated by how his mind worked, because he seemed to write about the most ridiculous things." 1983, on Simon

"I'm not bothered by people taping our records. I wanna get through to as many people as possible." 1983

"I'm a Gemini and I believe in immense detail." 1983

"It's not arrogance, it's confidence!" 1983

"Oh, I get a bit sarcastic sometimes. I'm trying to stop." 1983

"Oh my God! That's really fab! Hey, it's groovy man! For sure!" 1983, on being considered a sex symbol

"Oh, I like to have dinner and go to a club - you know, just laugh and have a good time." 1983, on his favorite evening out

"The simplest things, in the end are always the best. A good pop song is something you can whistle." 1983

"I like girls I can talk to, girls with happy, friendly personalities, who aren't too shy." 1983

"Even if it's bad music it's enlightening how bad it is." 1983

"We aren't looking for pity, we're looking for hit songs." 1984

"Our major aims have always been to be original - to have our own sound - and also to write songs that will be remembered in years ahead." 1984

"I love playing with keyboards. They're fascinating to me. I'm a real sucker for any gadget that does something or makes a noise. I love toy shops; I go around playing with all the little guns and robots. I still haven't really grown up in that respect." 1984

"I happen to like a couple of Carpenters' songs. What about that for an admission?" 1984

"I have an immense ambition and I have always had a very vivid impression of what I wanted to do." 1984

"It really doesn't make much difference being married but it's not much fun leading a normal life, it's fun to have something different going on. I'm a fidget, I'm a Gemini, I like to do different things all the time." 1984

"Rebellion doesn't have to destructive - it can be creative." 1984

"I don't worry much. Worry doesn't achieve anything. If it worries me I sort it out." 1984

"Variety keeps things alive." 1984

"If it's early in the morning probably a sufficent number. If it's late at night, no chance. It all depends on the time of day." 1984, on his push-up count

"I cut my toe nails when they start sticking out of my socks and put the clippins in the wastebasket - just like all good boys do." 1984

"I like pretentiousness if it is done well." 1984

"Maybe we should have worn masks." 1984, on the opinion that their success is due to their looks

"But oh, the music, the music often gets out of control. but after all, that's the fun of it all - taming it. I love it when it's like that - crazy." 1984

"A Gemini...soft at heart, hard at business." 1984, on himself

"I don't really feel that I have anything to prove musically." 1985

"My fan mail has actually increased over the last two years [since I've been married], certainly to what it was before. Maybe we're just having affairs on pieces of paper." 1985

"I don't care about my image - I'll be happy if I can keep finding new ideas. My goal in life is to always stay fresh." 1985

"Although I'm vain enough to wear it [makeup], I'm not vain enough to carry it around with me to touch it up." 1985

"I dream a lot, and I have very strange dreams sometimes. I'm interested in dreams. Do you dream in black and white or colour? That's always interesting. I think I dream in 3-D Technicolour." 1985

"So Red The Rose is an album, not a series of pop songs that sound good when you listen to each one seperately. I think the album has a special sort of atmosphere and vibe about it. It's like a storm. It goes down and gets soft, then builds up and crashes down again." 1985

"No, I like spiders. I don't know why everyone keeps killing them all the time - they're harmless." 1985

"A proper job! You sound like my mother! I can't ever see myself doing anything that doesn't come vaguely under the heading of "entertainment" because I like having an outlet to do different things. There's so much to take part in, so many separate projects, that I wouldn't swap what I do now for anything." 1985

"There's a lot of shows in America that are so bad they're fantastic. There's a quiz show thing where they all clap themselves all the time and keep saying, 'good answer, good answer' all the time. That's a real craker." 1985

"A box of Polaroid film, definitely. A rose. A copy of the Herald Tribune. And, um...one more thing. I 'm sure I can afford one more thing. A piece of paper and a pen. That's about five quid, isn't it?" 1985, on what he'd spend his last five pounds on

"'You know you'll never make it unless you learn to play an instrument properly.' Who said that? Numerous people." 1985, on the worst piece of advice he's been given

"Who? Who's Pat Boone? He said we were satanic? [laughs] I think he should watch more Peter Cushing movies. I like it, I like it! I think it's hysterical!" 1985, on Pat Boone's opinion that their Live Aid proformance was 'satantic'

"I guess sooner or later we're going to have to get the hell off this planet. It was so exciting when man first landed on the moon, but since when it seems that people haven't uncovered so much. I'm sure there's a lot more going on that we know about. I think that stuff's really interesting. I've always liked space travel." 1985

"If people saw how I wrote songs they'd be horrified. You know, on matchbooks and tissues. The most alarming one to me was when I put my hand in my pocket one day to actually blow my nose on this tissue, and I looked in horror and I sneezed into my other hand because it had musical notes and chord patterns written all over it! It was a song on the Arcadia album..." 1985

"It is a very fine line between insanity and genius, for sure. I'm sure there's a lot of peole that already think I am totally insane. Not yet, not yet ..[laughs]" 1985

"The only time i really love Los Angeles is when we're arriving at night time and it really looks like Blade Runner." 1985

"Well it hurts like hell. You're on two strings and wearing this brace that digs into your hips like an iron girdle. Take that, Platex!" 1985, on filming the flying sequence of "Goodbye Is Forever" video

"I hate drugs - they are one of the clich�s of rock music. I just think that people become vegetables and it's really boring." 1985

"The major thing that's important to me is just always being able to create soemthing new, something original, unique - something that other people get pleasure out of, as well as myself getting a lot of pleasure. I think they should get pleasure out of it on many different levels. As far as I'm concerned, if we've made a record and somebody's danceing to it in a club, we have connected with that person." 1985

"We have two dictionaries when we play, because Julie, being an American spells things differently. Like kerb, c-u-r-b. That's preposterous! I hate Webster's Dictionary when I'm playing Scrabble! And really, I hate it because she always beats me." 1985

"Do you know Norman Parkinson, the photographer? Well, anyway, he's lovely. He's still fantastically there, very intelligent and still totally into what he's doing. I'd kind of like to end up like that and for people to say, 'Now there goes a fine old chap.'" 1985

"You know what? I'm sure I'm a schizophrenic. The problem is I can't tell the difference between which one is which, which one is the real me. Do you understand? The thing is, I'm a very relaxed person. I think I have good karma. I never need to panic. I hate it when people rush around me, screaming and shouting. It's just a waste. I try to eliminate all waste feelings. Obviously I have faults and anxieties like any normal person, but I always try to rationalize things. I am a rational person. I like my state of mind and hope I can keep it like this. Placid is a good word." 1985

"I was sitting down in a restaurant when we were filming the final scene for 'Hungry Like The Wolf' and there's this snakecharmer sitting down with a little pipe, turban on, basket in front of him...So I went up to him and said, 'Whatcha got in there, eh?' He taps the basket adn these two cobras coming wriggling out." 1986

"I get most of my inspiration from TV, films, people and clubs - not from going to beaches and looking at palm trees." 1986

"Well, I think chess is as dangerous as I get. I don't mind swimming but no, Simon's the adventurer. He's Action Man. Me and John are definitely Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds, Simon's Action Man." 1986

"It's a great medium, photography. I've always been fascinated that you get this image that's just a split second of someone's life that will never ever be the same again and yet it's there on film for good." 1986

"It's pretty strange business being pregnant, having it drawn out through all that time. No, I wouldn't fancy being pregnant at all!" 1986

"I'm actually continually inspired by people, films, books, magazines - much more so than by other music." 1987

"Some people like to go off and live n the country and hike up mountains everyday. Some people like to stay in a small town and live from 9 to 5. Others aspire to more erratic patterns, maybe something more exiciting, maybe something that is more of a gamble, maybe something that can be totally crushing. I think everybody has a streak in them that's only present in them and not in anybody else. I like to wear nice suits. You can say Bruce Stpringsteen likes to wear blue jeans and a t-shirt. I'm sure Bruce wouldn't feel particularly comfortable in one of my suits, but what I wear doesn't make a difference about how I see things or how I write music. I think fashion is a very important part of youth culture. It always has been. It's very closely related to music." 1987

"At first I thought I just wanted to go on tour with the band, make a lot of money, and have a lot of fast cars. But I soon realized that was not what I wanted." 1987

"Look, we were just being ourselves. We couldn't help it if we were good looking and the girls liked us." 1987

"Joan Crawford, because she wore great shoulder pads!" 1987

"Perhaps I view fashion in a different sense than most people in that fashion as to do with attitude, fashion has to do with being modern. I don't just think abotu clothes, I think about furniture, light fittings, door handles, magazines, window displays, cars, fruit. I sometimes sit and muse to myself, God, the person who designed fruit must have been cool, but the person in the vegetable department wasn't quite so together. I mean, potatoes and carrots are real drab, but when you look at pineapples, wow!" 1987

"All I'd say to the cynics who say we're a group for little girls is, I think little girls are great. They make a lot of noise, they're excited, and they're hip because they're the first ones to catch on. They were certainly the first ones to catch on to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, David Bowie, and any other people who basically became rock legends." 1987

"I'm a lot smarter than I know all them [the media] are, so it doesn't really matter. I can really take myself above them. I got to Chanel, and they don't." 1987

"Nine years on I am still obsessed with Duran. I live it and breathe it. I have never known anything else." 1988

"I find the robes sexy on my body." 1988, on his priest outfit

"I've never been so shocked in my life; I couldn't believe it when we had people at our concerts screaming. We were expecting all these people with Ray Bans and Velvet Underground haircuts coming to our gigs. I think you've always got to be grateful for whatever audience you get. I can't be snobbish about any audience." 1989

"I resent the fact that the 'u' is missing from color." year unknown

"DAT is like a beautiful woman...so much fun to slowly unwrap." year unknown

"I go to as many exhibitions and openings and fashion things as I possibly can. But sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in our generation fighting the battle, I really do. Visiting galleries doesn't cost a penny but people go and watch Rambo instead." year unknown

"I hate moterbikes, they're horrible things." 1990

"She loves people and she's a dreadful flirt already. Of course, until Simon and Yasmin had their child she was the only baby in the band, so she was rather spoiled. She's like the band's child - and she dances while we rehearse. She loves to entertain and is very outgoing, which is nice." 1990, on Tatjana

"Absolutely not, we're much more embarrassed about other people's songs..." 1990, on whether they are embarrassed with any of their songs

"I've always been incredibly interested in fashion - in some ways more so than in music. I think it's one of the most important art forms. I think too many people put down fashion as throw-away, but it's a very important part of youth culture and general aesthetics. I love to see people dressed in beautiful clothes." 1990

"Aliens landing in my back garden, and taking them 'round the neighbors for cocktails. I've never met the neighbors." 1990, on his ideal evening

"She loves music and by the age of two she could operate every gadget in the house - TV, video - better than Julie Anne could." 1990, on Tatjana

"I don't have regrets, but some of my greatest achievements have been immaculate mistakes." 1990

"I wouldn't. But if I had to, smiling. I wouldn't like to be cremated, perhaps frozen, in a tomb with a few compact discs, some paintings, books, and maybe a couple of people to liven things up." 1990, on how he'd like to die

"You've got to have a lot of will power to survive in the entertainment business. I was reading an article about us saying we were the Richard Geres of the rock world. I don't know how to take that." 1992

"I love surround sound. I think everybody should have surround sound." 1992

"Music is our life. We are serious about what we do. Very serious. And people are just going to have to get used to it." 1992

"It's ideas that count, as far as I'm concerned. Obviously, over the last 15 years I've learned to do it better than I could then. I really don't mind who thinks I can or can't play." 1992

"For myself, I like the challenge of going in totally fresh and creating the challenge of having to do it, forcing myself to write, particularly when there's a synthesizer involved and I'm trying to come up with an intriguing sound. Nine times out of ten I'd say I'm lucky when I go in with that frame of mind. Obviously you don't know when the divine inspiration is going to hit you, but it's the excitement of creating a piece of music that usually stirs the inspiration and the imagination." 1993

"Why do they serve Idaho potatoes in California?" 1993

"I like the reaction I get from my bank manager." 1993, on his purple hair

"Someone said to me in an interview the other day, 'To what do you attribute the continued success of Duran Duran?' And in a way it was the most obvious question I've ever been asked. I just said, 'Well, songs!' If we hadn't written good songs then there's no way we'd have made it this far. Also, our love of music and wanting to create new things all the time is what's driven us through the harder periods that all bands go through. Songwriting is the most powerful art form to me. It's my favorite part of being in a band. Once you get it into your blood, you can't get it out. I mean, I love live performance, but the creating - the writing of the song - gives me more pleasure than anything else because at the end of it you've created something that's always going to be there." 1993

"All touring and no life makes Nick a dull boy." 1995

"I'm really looking forward to getting back into writing and scrutinizing Simon's lyrics. Come to think of it, I'm sure if Bob Dylan had been available during the recording of this album, I would have complained about the bed being brass!" 1995

"I find it important to have stability. I tend to be very monogamous anyway. When I find someone I love, I just become incredibly attached. I'm a person who will wait for years to pick out the right person." 1995

"What disturbed me greatly was that at midnight on 1989, people thought that the door was going to close on the vault and shut people like me behind it." 1995

"I like to make somebody look better than they think they look. I think it's exciting committing someone to celluloid." 1995, on his portrait photograhy

"We've been around for 15 years and we have proved ourselves enough times to know that we can, if we want to, keep on making records." 1995

"Our main criteria as a band is to always do something new with our image and our music. After all, you're only as good as your last movie." 1995

"I think it's important to keep a perspective at all times. In our industry you see such extremes. I saw a guy last night with the longest cigar I've ever seen. And I'm thinking, 'My God, he must have a very long limo!'" 1995

"Just think when we weren't on stage we had to hole up in the hotel and couldn't go out. Sure, it was a golden cage, but still a cage. There were always hundreds and hundreds of people outside the hotel, and we had to go through the kitchens to get away. I can say that I am very familiar with the kitchens of all the world's hotels!" 1995

"I love putting on makeup, and I'm going to put on twice as much as Madeleine! I never go out without at least a bit of mascara on my eyes!" 1995

"Phil Collins I cannot abide. He's somebody I'm perfectly happy to name as the King of Mediocracy." 1996

"Um, nice packaging, I think." 1996, on his concept of sin

"You've got to realize that rock magazines, particularly in England, are made up of journalists who usually are failed musicians. So, anyone who's had any degree of success outside Clapham Common is their immediate nemesis." 1997

"I like collaborating with people. I like pushing people, and in return, having them push you along, too." 1997

"Holiday Inns. The first time we came to America, we had to stay in Holiday Inns. One time in particular, at a Long Island Holiday Inn - I remember this very well - we were playing the Spit Club. We were at the hotel, and I had a major battle with a vending machine for the first 24 hours of my stay in America." 1997, on something he's glad he's not experiencing anymore

"We are going to be a multi-media band, we're going to be very different than everybody else out there and we don't want anything to do with rock n' roll. It's dirty, greasy jeans, t-shirts, sweating in little clubs...that is not Duran Duran." 1997

"From leather and plastic to satin and silk, my ways are elements I always stick with, it's the food or design you like or don't like. I've built up a cast library or images that I can react to. These images make me." 1997

"There's nothing strage about it. Men want to look good as much as women do." 1997, on men wearing makeup

"Obviously, I don't particularly like being harassed by belligerent people, but that's part of life. You have to look above it really and just know that they don't understand at all. I cam up against all kinds of things as you can imagine! When we get to the midwest and I'm standing next to a few truck drivers discussing life, things can get interesting. But I have always believed in individualism and I believe that you should always stick your neck out because it's always worth it." 1997

"Style and dance music has always been what Duran Duran has been about." 1997

"We like all sorts of girls. Every flavor." 1997

"Ideas. That's my favorite currency. I always feel rich whilst I've got ideas, and very poor if I start to run out." 1997

"Critical acclaim had never made any difference with us whatsoever. We rely on getting through to our fans." 1997

"If I had it my way, there'd be at least one Duran album per year. I think it should be a faster process." 1997

"Duran Duran's always suffered from extreme schizophrenia. It depends on how we feel when we wake up each morning. Every day's a new journey for us." 1997

"It's a simple little story about a girl that has batteries and, you know, she goes a bit wrong sometimes." 1997, on 'Electric Barbarella'

"We're here to entertain people really, in one way or another. We all like to think of it as art but at the end of the day, if it makes someone smile, then it has done something positive." 1997

"I don't like looking back - I'm not very nostalgic but I wish we never had a lawyer or an accountant." 1997

"There's a lot of different perceptions out there about what people think Duran Duran are about, but ultimately, to us, it's out vehicle to creat unique songs that push us a little bit further and hopefully push our area of music a little bit further." 1997

"The day we make records that aren't as exciting as those we've done previously, we should stop making records." 1997

"Makeup for men is always looked at in a strange light. But I look at it as totally pop." 1997

"When I wake up in the morning, I look in the mirrow, see what the damage is, then take from there [chuckles]. What a lot of people don't realize, is all men who are on telivision or stage (even newscasters) wear makeup. I believe it's a tool to be utilized if you wish." 1998

"Um, it is mildly irritating, however, people who say those things are obviously ignorant of the facts and so one must not take it too seriously." 1998, on people calling DD primarily an 80s act

"When I wake up in the morning, I look in the mirror, see what the damage is, then take it from there. What a lot of people don't realize, is all men who are on television or stage (even newscasters) wear makeup. I believe it's a tool to be utilized if you wish." 1998

"I always think we were kings of tack and we understood irony from an early age. I love tacky things. I love Las Vegas and the first time we went we didn't have time to go to the Liberace museum - can you believe someone would do that to me on the schedule?" 1998

"I'm terrible at planning ahead. I'm not sure what I'm doing tomorrow." 1998

"John and Simon were definitely going for records at the time [80s]. Olympic groupie records. But it all seemed a little too risky and seedy to me. They never came looking like pages out of Italian Vogue." 1998

"I didn't mind either way. I'm sure a lot of people still think I am. I never thought things like that mattered. It's like, why?" 1998, on how people assumed he was homosexual in the 80s

"It's kind of fun and we've all seen Death In Venice." 1998, on older men wearing lipstick

"Great for Culture Club - I'm glad they have an audience, but it's nostalgia and that has nothing to do with us." 1998

"I started wearing makeup when I was a bit older. I would've used my mum's makeup box, but she probably didn't have the colours I was after. So I always used my girlfriend's makeup instead. I wore anything that glittered and shone." 1998

"I think Duran Duran has had quite an influence on pop culture, even though it's not necessarily what we set out to do. We really wanted to be a mult-media corporation rather than a rock band. Going on stage in jeans and t-shirts and asking people wheter they were ready to rock wasn't what we were really about. It was more to do with mixing style, fashion, art, music, and film." 1998

"They [synthesizers] were built for soundscapes and for completely colouring the picture." 1998

"Delighted. Pretentious? I should jolly well think so!" 1999, on his title The Most Pretentious Man of the 80s

Every day when I wake up, I'm on some kind of bizarre trip anyway, so i don't really need drugs." 1999

"State of mind? Gosh. What a frightening thing. I�m still living New York time, trying to discover a British daylight cycle, which is somehow eluding me. Breakfast is a complete mystery. It�s very odd eating fruit when my body is telling me I should be eating pasta. I�m also thinking about credit bills that are just about to come in. What a miserable state of affairs. Plastic is a very dangerous thing. I was, after all, born to shop. And all these invitations are making me socially confused. I class the importance of invites in order of how thick they are and how much gold they have around their edges." 1999

"No, of course not! Most of it has come from spoilt jealous little people that know nothing about music. It�s unnecessary, spiteful, inane bitchiness. It�s peculiar to England, but not to Duran Duran. I don�t know whether that condition of building you up to knock you down is a genetic thing or part of an island mentality. But it�s nihilistic, whichever way." 1999, when asked if criticism hurts

"I�ve got everything in storage. Very early on in my career David Bowie told me he kept everything that he had worn and being a fan as a child I obviously wowed at the whole idea of all those outfits, so I�ve kept all my own ever since." 1999

"Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder!" 2000

"One of my gay friends calls me a lesbian, actually - she says, 'You're just a girl who likes girls.' I've got a lot of empathy for the gay world, always have had, I think a lot of the most creative people are gay. And a lot of my dear, dear friends, but as for my own tastes, it just doesn't work like that. Genetically it didn't go that way." 2000

"I wasn't aware that i had such a strange quirk. However, I do try to cover my mouth when I cough, vomit, or happen to be eating food and talking at the same time." 2000, when asked why he covers his mouth when he smiles

"Usually the telephone. But not one of those with that horrible Nokia tune. Always buy a phone for its ring. I never ever listen to the radio - all the talking drives me mad." 2000, on what he does in the morning

"Perhaps the opera and a nice light snack. In Venice. That'd be good. If I'm in London, I usually stay in, lock the shutter and I write. I have ideas about things. Future things for books, movies...I write everything down. I suffer from list-ism." 2000, on his ideal Saturday evening

"I must confess that I once bought a Picasso with my American Express card." 2000, on his most extravagant purchase

"Music should be judged by what it is, not by what's fashionable. Radio 1 is a closed shop, it's like Nazis." 2000

"I don't think we have much on the planet that's more interesting than people. I like knowing what's going on inside of people's heads and how people tick. A little bit of anthropology never did any harm." 2000

"I'm horribly particular about colours - the arguments I've had with lighting designers about shades of magenta." 2001