Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

I try to think about optimism. I try to look at the beautiful things in life.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

I always come across like I'm looking serious, but I just don't like smiling. Honestly, obviously I'm different in person.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

There's no point in getting too worried about things, because life is too short.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

You can't be in a situation where you are not happy. It's as simple as that.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

You want to be in control of a lot. You grow up. You sink or swim. I suppose I swam.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

People often ask me why I sing with a strong Irish accent. I suppose when I was five years old, I spoke with a strong Irish accent, so I sang with one, too.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

I'm an icon. I'm the Queen of Limerick.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

I worked myself into a frenzy. By 1996, I had a nervous breakdown just from working. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, just getting anxiety attacks and all of that stuff because I was doing too much, too young, all the time.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

We all wonder about death, where people go and what happens. But certainly, they cross over from this dimension to another one.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

I hated singing, I hated being on stage; I hated being in the Cranberries. I was constantly crying. I was going insane. I wanted to be a shopkeeper, a hairdresser, anything. I was so desperate to have a reality, friends, a regular, boring life. I missed that.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

What's amazing is - I actually have problems getting it into my head - Canada is so big, right? And Ireland's small, you know; you drive from coast to coast in three hours.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

One day we were in Limerick... and then, a few weeks later, we were being flown around to play. When we started, it was just a hobby. It wasn't any big ambition.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

I missed a lot of family weddings and funerals because we were out on the road and had these big gigs, and you can't pull out of these gigs at the last minute because too many people are counting on it. It got to the point where I was consumed with that.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

You know that band that are all over 'Melody Maker,' Huggy Bear, they're just a load of crap, right? Riot grrrl group - y'know, it's all sexism and stuff, women standing up for their rights: 'This girl said this at the gig off the stage.' It's nothing got to do with music. They're probably untalented gits when it comes to the crunch.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

In 1997, we took time off, and that's when Oasis broke and Princess Diana died and I was home with my baby hating the music industry. People asked what I thought about the Spice Girls, and honestly, I was so happy to tell them I couldn't be bothered to care.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

The school I went to was so Gaelic that you learned how to play the tin whistle and how to Irish-dance in class.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

I enjoyed living in Canada, where my husband comes from, because I was treated like any ordinary person. I became a volunteer at my children's school; I went into the classroom. It was very grounding. I got sick of being famous.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

U2 and Sinead O'Connor - I haven't a clue why we're compared to them. Apart from us all being Irish, we've nothing in common.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

As you get older, it's good to open up and acknowledge that everybody has their scary moments, their negative moments. And in order to move on and find comfort and hope, you have to stop running from the darkness and face it. And when you face it, it's not that scary at all, and sometimes it actually turns around and runs away.

Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan

It's pretty weird when you are just touring all the time and you don't have a normal life. You're out of touch with reality too much.