We all love the NHS. The NHS is like a secular version of the Virgin Mary. A loving and yet tortured matriarch, a benign shadow to the overt patriarchal dominance that usually abides. The NHS is definitely a she. – Russell Brand Letter to Boris Johnson, following his treatment in hospital for coronavirus.
It would have been convenient to be gay. Just because of the grooming, the narcissism, stuff like that. But I have this kind of roaring heterosexuality. Traditional, uncomplicated heterosexuality, an almost cliched Robin Askwith thing. – Russell Brand
I enjoyed having a reputation as being wild, but these days I try not to worry about what people think in the privacy of their own brain or what they write in the bizarre publicity of their own newspapers, because all of those things are meaningless. – Russell Brand
Sometimes, as a comedian, a line will come to you, that is so beautiful, so perfect, that you think: I did not create this line. This line belongs to all of us. Surely this is a line of God. – Russell Brand
I recognize that I have the ability to be selfish, but I also recognize that you can’t be happy if you only care about yourself at the expense of other people. – Russell Brand
In England, we have such good manners that if someone says something impolite, the police will get involved. – Russell Brand
People have always said, are you gay? I’ve had a lot of that. But it’s just not in me. I really like women a lot; I’m repulsed by men sexually. – Russell Brand
I don’t mind having a reputation as a serious and spiritual person. I think that would be a nice reputation to have. – Russell Brand
It’s difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within you. – Russell Brand
I don’t know if this is the kind of retrospective analysis that people are fond of applying to their work or actions, but it feels like I knew I was going to be famous and I knew that an element of that would be traumatic, so that if I could make myself something big and otherworldly, it would be a kind of defence. – Russell Brand
People don’t throw your bags out of windows because of lies; they throw them out because of the truth. – Russell Brand
When I was growing up, I thought I’d be a lot happier if I was famous and successful and if I had money. – Russell Brand
I do transcendental meditation, which is, I suppose, derived from Vedic or Ayurvedic principles, which is sort of Hindu principles. – Russell Brand
No-one really feels self-confident deep down because it’s an artificial idea. Really, people aren’t that worried about what you’re doing or what you’re saying, so you can drift around the world relatively anonymously: you must not feel persecuted and examined. Liberate yourself from that idea that people are watching you. – Russell Brand
I do have a regard for the musicality of language that came from BBC sitcoms like ‘Fawlty Towers.’ – Russell Brand