Top 15 James Hetfield Quotes

I wanted to make noise, not study theory.

We do this basically for ourselves. People appreciate it, which is cool, but I think they appreciate that we’re doing it for ourselves. We’re doing it our way, and how people like it is not up to us. We like it.

There is something powerful in Metallica, a will, a drive.

I’d much rather talk about guitar playing. I hate it when people ask me about my lyrics. I always feel like telling them to just go and read them.

Sleep my friend, and you will see that dream is my reality.

It’s all fun and games ’till someone loses an eye, then it’s just fun you can’t see.

Most of my guitars have been instruments that look cool. I’m not picky. I never think, ‘Oh, this neck isn’t made of ebony,’ or, ‘These strings don’t feel correct.’ It doesn’t matter too much.

I choose to live, not just exist.

I’m on this eternal quest to get the best guitar sound in the world, but my vision of what is ‘the best’ changes every time I go into the studio. Sometimes my goal is to make my guitar jump out, and sometimes I want it to lay back.

My live sound does not work in the studio, which is a completely different animal. Every little thing is detrimental to the sound. And if someone moves a mic, you’ve lost it. It’s pretty much a case of ‘lock the door and set up a police line.’

Dying, dying, someone told me just recently, dying is easy. Living is hard. for everyone.

Just like the poles of a magnet, some people are drawn to death and others are repulsed by it, but we all have to deal with it.

I’m always feeling like I don’t belong, no matter where I am. So I’m just searching for a family nonstop, and sometimes I find it in the mosh pit, sometimes I find it when I’m doing some French TV show with the president’s wife.

I like playing music because it’s a good living and I get satisfaction from it. But I can’t feed my family with satisfaction.

I’d like to have a beer-holder on my guitar like they have on boats.