David Bowie Quotes: One Year After His Death, 18 Sayings By The Music Legend

One year has passed since the death of David Bowie, the larger-than-life musician behind songs like "Space Oddity" and "Changes." Bowie, 69, succumbed to liver cancer in New York City in 2016, kicking off a year of devastating celebrity deaths for pop culture fans.

A singer, songwriter and actor with a lengthy career, Bowie was busy making music until his death. "Blackstar," Bowie's 25th album, came out just two days before he passed away. He was cremated, and there was no funeral.

Though Bowie may be physically gone, his legacy remains. In addition to thousands of lines of lyrics, there are dozens of Bowie sayings still inspiring artists today. On the first anniversary of his death, read through some of Bowie's greatest quotes, collected from BrainyQuote, Goodreads and AZQuotes.com:

"I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity."

"I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring."

"What I have is a malevolent curiosity. That's what drives my need to write and what probably leads me to look at things a little askew. I do tend to take a different perspective from most people."

"Fame itself doesn’t really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant."

"All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it."

"I guess, taking away all the theatrics or the costuming and the outer layers of what I do, I'm a writer. I write."

"As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I've got left?"

"I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human."

"It's always time to question what has become standard and established."

"Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary? When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything."

"Speak in extremes. It'll save you time."

"A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle."

"From my standpoint, being an artist, I want to see what the new construction is between artist and audience."

"Make the best of every moment. We’re not evolving. We’re not going anywhere."

"I wanted to imbue Ziggy with real flesh and blood and muscle, and it was imperative that I find Ziggy and be him."

"I'm just an individual who doesn't feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way. I'm working for me."

"What I like to do is try to make a difference with the work I do."

"Look up here, I'm in heaven."