A lot of people don’t want to make their own decisions. They’re too scared. It’s much easier to be told what to do.
Anybody intelligent enough to realize what America is, is not going to sit around and do nothing about it. They’re going to be the same way that I am. They’re going to be the same way our fans are. They’re going to be pissed.
Are people raised to be villains or vilified like I have become?
Art gives me the freedom I don’t have when I make music.
As a kid I had buck teeth and braces and acne. I hated what I saw. I’m still not comfortable, but that’s why I change and adapt the way I look.
As a kid I just felt like an outsider.
Everything is acting.
Find out what’s really out there. I never said to be like me, I say be like you and make a difference.
Growing up going to Christian school and the concept that you’re born a sinner and you don’t really have a choice to change who you are has been hammered into my head and created the entire reason why I made art and made a band and made records called ‘Antichrist Superstar.’
I am drawn to women who are independent and creative, which is problematic because it’s a struggle, a competition of careers. There’s jealousy.
I can’t satisfy myself with just trying to tie all of my imagination into music, especially when music is not appreciated as an art form as much as it used to be.
I dare you all to write one more thing that you won’t say to my face.
I decided to make music again at a time when I couldn’t have had more obstacles.
I don’t encourage people to choose any sort of sexuality.
I don’t want to feel like I’ve matured. That’s a stupid word that I never want to use.
I fall in love very easily.
I never said to be like me, I say to be like you and make a difference.
I think art is the only thing that’s spiritual in the world. And I refuse to forced to believe in other people’s interpretations of God. I don’t think anybody should be. No one person can own the copyright to what God means.
I think everybody’s got a presentation. Everybody looks a certain way because they want to convey a certain image. You look a certain way because you want people to listen to you in a certain way.
I used to have nightmares about the Antichrist – what would happen, where it would come from, and who it would be.
I was married to someone who wanted me to change. Become more adult, more responsible. I began not to like myself, not like what I do. I lost my identity. Everything began collapsing around me.
I went to one AA meeting and I got asked for an autograph.
I’m kind of shy, and I think that I take that out by performing in front of a lot of people. That’s how I get out my shyness.
I’m my most creative between 3 and 5 a.m. That’s the way I’ve always been.
I’m not going to be some kind of PC, tree-hugger.
I’ve found a woman I can relate to. That’s something – and I don’t even feel sappy saying it – that, if anyone has that, don’t lose it, because it’s probably the only thing that you can ever really find any satisfaction from.
I’ve started to think that maybe I wouldn’t mind passing my demented genius on to some small thing who can set fire and breathe profanity.
If one more ‘journalist’ makes a cavalier statement about me and my band, I will personally or with my fans’ help, greet them at their home and discover just how much they believe in their freedom of speech.
If what you do is being threatened as a profession, that could be scary. But that’s the same reason why I walked out on stage many times after receiving death threats. I couldn’t live without doing what I wanted to do. So at the same time I have to be willing to die for it.
In any story, the villain is the catalyst. The hero’s not a person who will bend the rules or show the cracks in his armor. He’s one-dimensional intentionally, but the villain is the person who owns up to what he is and stands by it.
In the end we’re all Jerry Springer Show guests, really, we just haven’t been on the show.
Is adult entertainment killing our children? or is killing our children entertaining our adults?
It’s better to use a curse word than to hurt somebody else, I find.
It’s my job to be the Pierrot, the clown, in the theatrical sense.
Leave me in a room with some crayons and I’ll draw on the wall.
Living in Hollywood, it’s easy to have someone flatter you. That doesn’t help me.
Marilyn Manson is a criticism of gimmickry, while being itself a gimmick.
Marilyn Manson is a mockery of American pop culture.
Marilyn Monroe wasn’t even her real name, Charles Manson isn’t his real name, and now, I’m taking that to be my real name. But what’s real? You can’t find the truth, you just pick the lie you like the best.
Marriage changes everything.
Music is the strongest form of magic.
My dad loves what I do and I support my parents financially because they didn’t have a job that gave them a pension.
My first memories of religion were being taken to Episcopal church. My father was Catholic, but my mother, I believe, was Episcopal. So I sort of veered off into the watered-down version of Catholicism.
My goal isn’t to make money, it’s to try and survive and make a point.
Part of me is afraid to get close to people because I’m afraid that they’re going to leave.
People only hate what they see in themselves.
People tend to associate anyone who looks and behaves differently with illegal or immoral activity.
Rumors, stories… I’m used to them. I got my ribs removed, I was on ‘The Wonder Years’… You know there’s a different story every day.
Sometimes you feel awkward being what you’re best at, you feel like you have to be something new.
The advantage of the internet is that it has taken away the charade of politics. China has heard of democracy and people know about certain concepts they wouldn’t have previously.
The burden of originality is one that most people don’t want to accept. They’d rather sit in front of the TV and let that tell them what they’re supposed to like, what they’re supposed to buy, and what they’re supposed to laugh at.
The person who thinks I worship the devil and kill animals is just as important as someone who makes an interpretation that’s closer to what I intended.
The point is that life for me is not going to be the way it is for everyone else. I have a fog machine and movie lights in my bedroom.
The time that people aren’t expecting what’s going to happen, I find that’s the best time to really cause the damage that needs to be done.
The word ‘Antichrist’, to me, is the collective disbelief in god.
There’s a certain group of people who are always going to dislike me and disagree with whatever I say.
There’s no reason to change what you are, but if you’re not being you, then you need to acknowledge that.
These people are artists. These people are musicians. They’re taking it out and trying to express it that way.
They’ll see it. And it doesn’t matter if they don’t. It’s only Rock ‘n’ Roll. But I do intend to move more into the Mainstream. Marilyn Manson is just the First phase.
Things have become devalued to the point where people don’t realize the repercussions, that they’re devaluing themselves. It could end up bringing about chaos, a lawless situation.
This is the culture you’re raising your kids in. Don’t be surprised if it blows up in your face.
To admit you want to have a comeback means you have to admit you weren’t what you were supposed to be. You dropped below your own standard.
To me, Satan ultimately represents rebellion.
Ultimately, because I’m an artist, I can’t ever consider myself a nihilist, so I suppose I’m optimistic.
We live in a society of victimization, where people are much more comfortable being victimized than actually standing up for themselves.
What I know is my music gets blamed for school shootings.
When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed.
When I finish a picture I don’t show it to anyone if I feel it’s not good enough yet. I’ve learnt to listen to my partners and my friends. For me it’s the biggest success if they like it.
When you’re taught to love everyone, to love your enemies, then what value does that place on love?
