that the 12-year old boy who hand-drew a poster reading "Everything is an illusion - you make your own reality", and stuck it on his bedroom door, was very possibly onto something.

Nearly 30 years later, his adult counterpart *knows* the following statement he coined is true, that "Life is essentially meaningless, a series of random events inviting any number of feeble interpretations, and thus ultimately a bad joke played on those foolish enough to ascribe innate structure or pattern to it".

On reflection, I actually see no great disparity between my 12-year old convictions, and my grumpy middle-aged ones.

I further concede that 'Faith' is the preserve of Cliff Richard.

I know how to bake a decent Victoria sponge.

...that you're wrong about that Oxford comma, CP.

And I know you're going to refute that belief very soon!

And I believe what I believe in
Yes I believe in
I believe in

I believe in the web of fate
And I believe in I'm going to be late
So I'll be leavin'

in a thing called love.

(The Darkness)

When there's a dotted line involved.

people just ain't no good but I think thats well understood

Everything before 'but' is bulls**t.
Honesty is usually the best policy.
Telling people how you truly feel about them is fraught with danger but usually worth it.
You should never start a sentence with 'Because'.

Their song Affirmation has some noble, worthy moments - but:

"I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that forgiveness is the key to unhappiness"

I don't understand either of those. Is he saying that if you are happily married, you don't have to take your clothes off? Is he also saying that you should harbour grudges until the day you die - that way, you'll be happy?

The man's a fool.

This is another one:

"I believe I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life"

I think this is chilling - not romantic.

It's annoying enough when someone says "I know" when you are telling them new information. Imagine if they said "I know, don't forget I created you."

The Bachelors.

Hard to, er, believe, but this reached #2 in the UK in the year of A Hard Day's Night. I was a schoolboy at the time and found it cringe-inducing even then.

At 2:10 it was unusually/mercifully short even in the days of the 3 minute hit single.

It enjoyed healthy sales among the Catholic granny demographic, I understand.

.. that most things that you worry about turn out OK in the end.
I know I worry too much.

...the best motto for life is "don't be a cunt". You can't be nice all the time, you're not infallible, sometimes you make mistakes. But if we all tried really hard not to be cunts, things would probably be pretty much OK. Sometimes I struggle. But mostly out of idiocy, not malice. Which, I suppose, brings me to another one:

I believe that no matter how clever you think you are, there's something around the corner just itching to prove you wrong.

that I believe in not believing. Believe me.

'I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.' Bertrand Russell

More from him here:

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Bertrand_Russell

any regrets we suffer are mostly for the things we didn't do, rather than the things we did. And that we should bear this in mind before it's too late.

(The Lovin' Spoonful - Do You Believe In Magic?)

Incidentally, this is yet another example of how, in the '60s, up until "Honky Tonk Women", "Tambourine" was what is now known as "Cowbell".