"In the end we're all Springer guests, really, we just haven't been on the show." "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. You have Beavis and Butt-head telling you what music you're allowed to like and not like, and you've got sitcoms that have canned laughter that lets you know when to laugh if you're too stupid to know when the joke is--people are too lazy and too stupid to think for themselves because America has raised them like that." "Find out what's really out there. I never said to be like me, I say be like you and make a difference." "This is the culture you're raising your kids in. Don't be surprised if it blows up in your face." When people say 'I want to be like you', I tell them if you want to be like me, then be yourself. Im not saying that when I perform I'm Barry Manilow, but I'm also not killing kids and beating up dogs and things like that. I'm thankful that I have two middle fingers.....I only wish I had more. "I view my job as being someone who is supposed to piss people off. I don't want to be just one-of-the-guys. I don't want to be just a smiling face you see on television presenting some vapid kind of easily-digestible garbage. This is rock and roll. I want to be a rock and roll star! Rock and roll is about shaking things up, making people act and react. That's what I do." "We've always found that with people being so desensitized, things have to be really shocking and have to punch you in the face to get your attention. Then, once you've got their attention. You can say something they might remember." "I picked that (Marilyn Manson) as the fakest stage name of all to say that this is what show business is, fake. 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. As long as you know everything's a lie, you can't hurt yourself." Billy Zane is someone that I met and is a fellow artist, and sometimes we work together, painting, however pretentious that might sound. It was really quite simple, though. We would just spend time together, hanging out, listening to music, or painting. We became friends. He was one of the first people I met when I moved to Hollywood. And I think he's a cool actor. Part of me is afraid to get close to people because I'm afraid that they're going to leave. I've always had the same level of excitement about making music, but now it seems so much more important because all of the blame that was put on me for Columbine. The entire incident, the way the media reacted, the people who were involved, the way I was treated, it hurt me personally because my career is my life. It made me feel a lot like how I felt growing up because it was a lot of people beating you down and treating you a certain way for something you're not even responsible for. I just really had to re-evaluate what I was gonna do; How am I gonna respond to this, how am I gonna take this? And I wanted to come out swinging with both fists. It is a great feeling to write a song, but to be able to perform it, it takes on a whole different light. "If Mandy [Mandy Moore] and I had a love child (if she was old enough) this is what they'd look like." - referring to The Polyphonic Spree at the MTV Video Music Awards 2004.