"I love ET 'cos it reminds me of me. Someone from another world coming down and you becoming friends with them and this person is, like, 800 years old and he's filling you with all kinds of wisdom and he can teach you to fly. That whole fantasy thing which I think is great. I mean, who don't wanna fly?"
Interview in Smash Hits, January 20, 1983

"I see God in the face of children. If there were no children on this Earth, if somebody announced that all kids are dead, I would jump off the balcony immediately. I'm done."
TV documentary by Martin Bashir, February 2003

"Our parents taught us to always be respectful and, no matter what you do, to give it everything you have. Be the best, not the second best."
USA Today interview 2001

"I was so little when we began to work on our music that I don’t remember much about it. When you’re a showbusiness child people make a lot of decisions concerning your life when you’re out of the room".
Jackson mused in his autobiography Moonwalk, published in 1988

"I believe I’m one of the loneliest people in the world."
He wrote, in what was to become the most frequently quoted remark from his Moonwalk book

"Success definitely brings on loneliness. People think you’re lucky, that you have everything. They think you can go anywhere and do anything, but that’s not the point. One hungers for the basic stuff."
Jackson wrote in Moonwalk

"My father was a management genius. But what I really wanted was a dad."
Speech at Oxford Union

"They used to call me a 45-year-old midget wherever I went."
Oprah Winfrey interview, 1993

"I have a skin disorder which destroys the pigment of my skin. It’s in my family. We’re trying to control it. I am a black American."
Jackson told Oprah

Why can't you share your bed? That's the most loving thing to do, to share your bed with someone. You say, 'You can have my bed if you want it. Sleep in it. I'll sleep on the floor. It's yours.' I always give the beds to the company."
Admitting he shared his bed with children, in documentary by Martin Bashir, February 2003

"Everyone who knows me will know the truth which is that my children come first in my life and that I would never harm any child."
TV documentary by Martin Bashir was shown on February 3, 2003

"Wacko Jacko - where'd that come from? Some English tabloid. I have a heart and I have feelings. I feel that when you do that to me. It's not nice. Don't do it. I'm not a 'wacko'."
Speaking to TV journalist Barbara Walters in Paris, 1997

"When you just look out over the stage, as far as the naked eye could see, you see people. And it's a wonderful feeling, but it came with a lot of pain, a lot of pain."
Speaking to Ebony magazine in 2008

"The truth is, umm, no. Not the way James Brown did, or Jackie Wilson did, where they just ran it out, they killed themselves. In my opinion, I wish (Brown) would have slowed down and been more relaxed and enjoyed his hard work."
When asked by Ebony about whether he would carry on performing into old age.

"I wrote a song called Dirty Diana. It was not about Lady Diana. It was about a certain kind of girls that hang around concerts or clubs, you know, they call them groupies."
Speaking to Barbara Walters

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