"I like to walk around the cities and see things. I've been around this country so many times, yet I've hardly see things. Sometimes I literally don't know what town I am in. We just get on the plane and fly."(1981)

"It's really funny, because I'm a split personality. When I'm home, I'm ordinary John Osbourne. When I'm on the road, I'm a madman. I just go crazy." (1981)

"Don't get involved in the business trip thing that goes with it. It changes your personality instantly. If you don't watch it, you can be sucked down the tubes so easily in the first two years. Just keep yourself steady, believe in what you do. Be sincere." (1981)

"The only truly important memeber of the band was Randy. He was a saint--the greatest pure guitarist I've ever seen or heard. He was a natural, a born star. The rest of the people I work with are just there to play a f*cking role." (1983)

"They insited on calling it "Speak Of The Devil." If they had called it "History Of Ozz", they could have put Randy's work on it. But I wasn't about to let them put him on an album called "Speak Of The Devil." That would have been a crime in my eyes. Randy was a saint, and to tarnish his name by putting him on an album with the devil's name on it would have been unthinkable." (1983)

"Why would I ever consider giving up what I'm doing? I love doing it, and the fans seem to love it as much as I do. If I wasn't doing this, I'd end up either in prison or at the end of a rope in a very short time. I don't even like to consider the possibility." (1983)

" I'll never be mellow. I'd sooner die than become a boring old fart. I'm still as much of a loon as I ever was. I like being a little crazy--- it makes people respect you. the never take you for granted, that's for sure." (1983)

"Over the years I've seen so many bands come out of nowhere and disappear again and I'm still plodding along and having fun. I thank my lucky stars every day." (1985)

"My mother said to me, 'Get a proper job. Quit this f*cking around.' She still thinks it s a f*cking crazy thing I'm doing." (1985)

"Certain people are blessed with a gift and a lot of luck. I'm not. I believe you need a certain amount of talent but a hell of a lot of luck. For every Ozzy Osbourne there's a million more that don't get that break." (1985)

"To be honest, I am a little bit crazy. I accept that. I've always been outrageous. I've never been the every day Norman Normal. I've always gone over the top with everything, you know. But the funniest thing is People within the industry believe what the industry prints about me. I find that really hard to swallow." (1985)

"My mother was an amateur singer, my father was an amateur drunk." (1985)

"I suddenly realized that when I was a drug addict, I used to write things like "Flying High Again," "Snowblind," all this sh*t. And the other night, I thought, "F*ckin' 'ell, I sing one song for it and then straight after I sing one song against it." But the thing is, that's OK. Because that was where I was when I wrote that, so why shouldn't I do it? It's part of my life. It's a part of what I am and what I will be. I might start singing f*cking religious songs. I don't think so, but if I choose to, why not? To think you can't sing stuff from your last album because now you're a different man is bullsh*t. If they're good enough to write and good enough to hear and to buy, then they're good enough to sing onstage, you know? I'm not ashamed of anything that I've done in the past." (1985)

"I'd rather have people get rid of their aggression at an Ozzy concert than by beating some old lady over the head and running off with her purse." (1985)

"I went to join the army once when I was depressed and pissed off. They wouldn't have me for some reason." (1985)

"I don't see where he [guitarist Tony Iommi] gets off using the name of Black Sabbath on his own. To me, it's almost sacrilegious." (1985)

"After I bit the head off the bat, the animal rights people came after me every night. Probably right after they finished eating their Colonel Sanders or whatever, telling me I shouldn't be biting the heads off bats. I'll tell you what bats taste like. Like a good McDonald's." (1985)

"I'm not the greatest singer in the world, but I do give people entertainment." (1986)

"It's entertainment -- Ozzy puts his mask on and does his performance. You see far more violence in a Tom and Jerry cartoon than you see at an Ozzy Osbourne concert. Kids see the mouse get his brains bashed in every morning on television." (1986)

"I would hate my children to be the typical rock 'n' roll brats. My father always taught me that if you haven't got anything else, the cheapest thing in the world is good manners." (1986)

"Someone made me an Ozzy Osbourne Cabbage Patch Doll, tattoos and everything. Red boots and skin tight pants. It's so cute" (1986)

"I remember being in Nashville with Tommy Lee and Vince Neil, and we got smashed on sake. We were lying there in the middle of the freeway, smashed legless. We nearly got arrested for urinating on a police car. Motley Crue were the greatest guys I ever toured with. I thought I was nuts. Definitely a wild bunch, they are." (1986)

"It's good fun and it has great rewards. It's been such an eye opener for me. Everything that I ever wanted to have has come from rock 'n' roll. I've had happiness, I've had sadness, I've had everything. I've experienced life, death, birth, marriage, divorce, and it's been a whole bunch of fun. I wouldn't have it any different. I'd do it all again tomorrow." (1986)

"I've learned that if one is an alcoholic one is always and alcoholic. There's no such thing as beating the bottle. You can win a few of the battles, but unless you're very careful, booze will win the war. When I first came out of the clinic I tried to stay away from alcohol totally. I didn't want to be seen by my children or their friends as this old drunk who was always too smashed to even walk." (1987)

" People can think whatever they want. It's not my job to convince them of anything. The truth is that I don't really know why I do some of the things that I do. Of course, being drunk at the time can lead you to do just about anything." (1987)

"I hate thinking I'm gonna be 40. It's a very responsible age to be. I keep expecting myself to get mellow but I don't. I'm just as f*ckin' crazy as I have ever been" (1987)

"It ain't all sweet, rock 'n' roll. You certainly put in the hours to get the rewards. I've been challenged a lot over the years but I still manage to keep my head above water" (1988)

"I didn't know it was a bat at the time until I crunched the head. 'Oh my God, what have I done?!" (1988)

"I've come to the conclusion that people don't want to know the truth - that I'm a happily married man with three kids that I absolutely adore, and that what I do is entertain people. I am not f*cking Dracula!" (1989)

"There are so many cases of people blaming me that I don't even keep a record of it. Just last week someone else shot himself and has blamed me. I will not surrender. I will not let these foolish people get to me, because it's my profession, and I have the Godgiven right to do what I'm doing. I believe in God, I don't believe in the devil. I am not a devil worshiper. My kids do not sleep in the attic, hanging upside down on rafters." (1990)

"I'm an absolute perfectionist. I'm never happy with a finished album. There's always something I don't like." (1990)

"I'm not a very pleasant man to live with when I'm writing. People have to stay away from me. I have to stay away from myself" (1990)

"After all is said and done, I wouldn't change a f*ckin thing. Because if I dropped dead now - I've had such an eventful life -- I'd rather be doing what I'm doing today than anything else. Let's face it, this beats going down a coal mine, delivering milk, or working in a f*cking office. At least I've had a lot of f*cking experiences and a lot of fun. I've lived life to its fullest" (1991)

"I'm addicted to rock 'n' roll. The reason why so many take drugs and get f*cked up is because we want the party to continue. But that's way, way at the bottom of the ladder compared to a good rock show" (1991)

"When I was a kid in the summer I used to go playing in the cornfields, setting fire to barns. I used to be a little amateur arsonist" (1991)

"My idea of retirement is when they lower a pine box in the ground." (1992)

"If I had to start it all over again, the only thing I would change is I'd learn to read a contract better." (1992)

"I was drinking colossal amounts of alcohol and I'd get up there and come crashing back down. I was getting in a deeper, deeper hole. I began to take the Ozzy off stage and bring him home, which I swore I'd never do." (1994)

"It's easy to say you're retiring but you've got to have something to retire to. I didn't. I was like a f*cking fish out of water. Readjusting to being civilized again was not my cup of tea." (1995)

"A lot of my drinking friends died in their 40's -- heart attacks, one guys liver exploded. There but for the grace of God go I. There must be a guiding star over me. (1996)

"The music industry thought the Ozzfest tour was a crap idea. They said it wasn't hip. It wasn't current. But our show was the biggest grossing tour in California for all of '96. We did what we believed in." (1997)

"I'm still that kid sitting on the steops fantasizing. I haven't made my St. Pepper album yet" (1998)

"I don't follow trends. I don't watch the charts. I just do what I like, and I've been fortunatethat others have liked it as well. And I don't think about what I've done -- I think about what I'm going to do" (1998)

"I love my wife more than anything in the world. There's no other woman I could see myself being married to." (1998)

"There's not a day that goes by without me thinking about Randy Rhoads. I have a picture of him and me in my dressing room; I still talk to him in my head. You never realize what you have until it's gone." (1998)

"People come up to me and say, 'Man, I'm 17 years old, my father would tell me about Black Sabbath, you are the f*cking best.' That is the biggest honor of all -- fathers and sons, generations who are still fans. That's when you say, 'I must have done something right'" (1998)