“People don’t read any more. It’s a sad state of affairs. Reading’s the only thing that allows you to use your imagination. When you watch films it’s someone else’s vision, isn’t it?”
Interview in The Independent, 15 October 2005
― Lemmy Kilmister
“Apparently people don’t like the truth, but I do like it; I like it because it upsets a lot of people. If you show them enough times that their arguments are bullshit, then maybe just once, one of them will say, ‘Oh! Wait a minute – I was wrong.’ I live for that happening. Rare, I assure you”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“In my life so far, I have discovered that there are really only two kinds of people: those who are for you, and those who are against you. Learn to recognize them, for they are often and easily mistaken for each other.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“It seems that our brave new world is becoming less tolerant, spiritual and educated than it ever was when I was young.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“I don’t do regrets. Regrets are pointless. It’s too late for regrets. You’ve already done it, haven’t you? You’ve lived your life. No point wishing you could change it
― Lemmy Kilmister
“Death is an inevitability, isn’t it? You become more aware of that when you get to my age. I don’t worry about it. I’m ready for it. When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn’t complain. It’s been good.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“I don’t see why there should be a point where everyone decides you’re too old. I’m not too old, and until I decide I’m too old I’ll never be too fucking old.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“As you go through life’s rich tapestry, you realise that most people you meet aren’t fit to shine your shoes. It’s a sad fact, but it’s true. A good friend is someone who’d hide you if you were on the run for murder. How many of them do you know?”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“…the Beatles were hard men too. Brian Epstein cleaned them up for mass consumption, but they were anything but sissies. They were from Liverpool, which is like Hamburg or Norfolk, Virginia–a hard, sea-farin’ town, all these dockers and sailors around all the time who would beat the piss out of you if you so much as winked at them. Ringo’s from the Dingle, which is like the f***ing Bronx. The Rolling Stones were the mummy’s boys–they were all college students from the outskirts of London. They went to starve in London, but it was by choice, to give themselves some sort of aura of disrespectability. I did like the Stones, but they were never anywhere near the Beatles–not for humour, not for originality, not for songs, not for presentation. All they had was Mick Jagger dancing about. Fair enough, the Stones made great records, but they were always s**t on stage, whereas the Beatles were the gear.”
― Lemmy Kilmister, White Line Fever: The Autobiography
“If you’re going to be a fucking rock star go be one. People don’t want to see the guy next door on stage; they want to see a being from another planet. You want to see somebody you’d never meet in ordinary life.”
― Lemmy Kilmiste
“People who work in a factory, right, or some awful fucking mind-numbing job like that – ‘cause I worked in a factory, I know what it’s like; it’s fucking awful, yeah? Most people have to do that kind of job that they hate every day of their lives. Can you imagine what that must be like? You have to submerge your intellect completely, right, and just, y’know, che cha, y’know, and all that. So, at the weekend, they want to hear something that tears the heart out of ‘em and gives it back better.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“Motörhead is nothing if not democratic, but I don’t think it’s fair to be waving your dick around when people are minding their own business and might not want to see it.”
― Lemmy Kilmister, White Line Fever: The Autobiography
“…what happened in New York and Washington is the same thing that England and America did to Berlin every day for three years during World War II — and Germany did the same thing to England.”
― Lemmy Kilmister, White Line Fever: The Autobiography
“Home is in here [tapping temple]. Where you live is just a geographical preference.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“If you didn’t do anything that wasn’t good for you it would be a very dull life. What are you gonna do? Everything that is pleasant in life is dangerous. Have you noticed that? I’d like to find the bastard that thought that one up.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“That was a great time, the summer of ’71 – I can’t remember it, but I’ll never forget it!”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“The only interesting thing about religion is how many people it’s slaughtered. Communism and Nazism are religions as well, make no mistake about it.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“This entire generation seems to have become pussies, you know? Nobody seems to enjoy themselves much anymore.They are all knocking each other down for enjoying themselves.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“In my life so far, I have discovered that there are really only two kinds of people: those who are for you, and those who are against you. Learn to recognize them, for they are often and easily mistaken for each other.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“Integrity is everything to me. I will not die ashamed. I will live on my deathbed knowing that I gave it my best shot, and everything else is meaningless to me.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“I like girls. That’s the only reason I’m in the music business – I discovered you could get women to take their clothes off if you had a guitar. And they come off a lot faster if you can play it.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“If there is a God he hasn’t been paying attention. He should retire and hand over to a younger man, because he’s making a real bollocks of everything.”
― Lemmy Kilmister
“Chicks used to steal food out of the fridge from their parents to feed us and shit – kind of like bringing a meal to the convicted prisoner on the run. They liked the drama of it, and we liked the food.”
― Lemmy Kilmister, White Line Fever: Lemmy: The Autobiography
Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister
1945 – 2015 Born to Lose, Lived to Win
