Keith Richards’ 10 Secrets to Success

The Rolling Stones’ grizzled genius guitarist isn’t merely a rock’n’roll icon — he’s an against-the-odds success story, a survivor. Fond of beginning gigs by uttering “It’s good to be here. It’s really good to be anywhere,” this cat’s been through way more than nine lives. Here we collect ten of Keef’s wittiest, most insightful quotes on making your own way, mortality, creativity, hedonism, business, coolness and the meaning of life.

10. Take It To The Limit — Not Beyond
“At our best, we master the art of going just over the edge of the abyss, then pulling back.”

9. Enjoy Life’s Bumpy Ride
“It’s gotta go up and down. Otherwise you wouldn’t know the difference. It would just be a bland, straight line, like lookin’ at a heart machine. And when that straight line happens, baby, you’re dead.”

8. Get High In Style
“If you are going to get wasted, then get wasted elegantly.”

7. Relationships Are Risky
“The only way to find whether a guy’s worth anything is to take a risk. Sometimes friends let you down, sometimes they don’t. But you take the risk, otherwise you get nothing at all.”

6. Cool Is Unconscious
“You’ve gotta be cool with yourself. If you’ve gotta think about being cool, you ain’t cool.”

Keith Richards: This is how he rolls...

5. Rich Is Relative
“What does a millionaire do if he happens to spend over a million dollars a year? That makes him a pauper, you know. I could earn that title very quickly.”

4. No Secrets? No Worries
“I have nothing to hide. I’ve found that’s the best way to get along with everybody.”

3. Originality Is Key
“The biggest mistake in the world is to think that you have to emulate somebody else.”

2. Trust Your Own Taste
“If I start to think about ‘What do they want to hear?’, then I say ‘I’m out of here.’ The only times people have liked my stuff is when I’ve done it because I like it.”

1. Look Forward, Not Back
“I don’t regret nothin’.”