Shirley Manson Quotes (49 Quotes)


    I don't really see where I fit into that group, but I'm very flattered. I think, though, all of us women, regardless of how different we are as artists, come from a similar place in terms of how we view our role as a female musician. All of us are pretty feisty. And I think that that's what people identify with. Because there seem to be so few women right now who are interested in having an opinion. Having something to say. Trying to do things a little differently. Refusing to take our clothes off to further our careers.

    And then there's all these other creeps that surround your band and suck off you like leeches and try to manipulate you and your business. You have to watch like a hawk. I'm always ready to fight. I see it very much as a battle.

    I think they're a little shocked at first. . . . Then they start laughing or grinning or shaking my hand,

    If you have any opinions at all or if you're even remotely verbal then they're going to call you fiery.

    You have to watch all sides of your advancement, you have to make sure people's bodies and minds are healthy and their morale is cool before you can really go out and play great music.


    I think it's a great thing to have failed in life and then pulled yourself up by the boot straps and actually done something, because then you appreciate it more.

    I have a lot of very close girlfriends and sisters - I'm from an all female family. My father often quips that even the cat was neutered!

    I don't think I have seen a single green vegetable in three months, so I just need to get my life into some sort of sense of control,

    I would say I'm pretty well at ease with my sexuality, but I'm an individual before I am a female.

    A lot of people these days are not music lovers - they just want to be famous which is a very different thing to what I grew up believing in.

    We have discussed this and I don't think anybody is interested in breaking up. We feel that this has been a really great tour, and we feel that we have really muscled through and produced a great record, and we just want to take some time off while things are really good between us.

    I was lucky when I was young to have a very mixed peer group. I hung with the girls and the boys, and that's continued all through my life.

    I don't think they can deal with someone being complex and contradictory it's not acceptable, you have to be a cartoon, a stereotype.

    I get female groupies, but I don't get male groupies. I have women who offer to sleep with me all the time. But not men. They're all talk and nay action -- as we'd say in Scotland. If I go anywhere near most of our male following, they are freaked. Absolutely freaked. I think my height has got a lot to do with it. I'm really tall. I'm five-eight, and with heels, I'm six foot, so people are like. 'Whoa, Amazon' People are a wee taken aback by that 'cause I think people expect me to be small.

    I state for the record that I am PRO CHOICE. No government, no man, no neighbour of mine is going to tell ME what I choose to do with MY BODY or MY LIFE. How dare ANYONE, even for a MILLISECOND, consider it reasonable to legislate over the insides of another human being. Where will that kind of legislation end Will it eventually lead to goverment legislation over our organsNOBODY has the right to legislate over another persons body.We may not always approve of what another person chooses to do with their own body, but quite frankly.....IT'S NONE OF OUR DAMNED BUSINESS.For instance....if I had my way.......I would OUTLAW plastic surgery. It's facism. It's INSANE. It's DANGEROUS. But you know what... millions of people, indeed I would imagine the majority of people, would disagree with me. So I have to simply choose not to have surgery MYSELF. And that is the end of it.

    No, I'm not Shirley the girl, I'm the woman on MTV with the big boots.

    Possibly because I grew up not feeling very confident about my own physical appearance, I developed internal devices so that I could integrate into society.

    People tend to think I'm always aggressive and strong. The truth is, I've always been wracked with self-loathing, which leads me into terrible, self paralysing depressions. When I go down to this place, I feel so empty and overwhelmed I can barely move. But perversely, I find these traits in a man unacceptable I can't stand someone who can out-depress me. You know that scene in Babe where the farmer clog-dances for the pig Sometimes I'm the sick pig and I need a farmer to cheer me up. And when things get bad, my boyfriend does dance for me, and it never fails to make me laugh. He's a pretty snappy dancer.

    That's a difficult question, because to consider yourself a rebel is sort of ridiculous.

    I felt like a prisoner sometimes, being in essentially what is a small town in the middle of farmland,


    Mozart was a punk, which people seem to forget. He was a naughty, naughty boy.

    A lot of celebrities just want money, fame, power, fancy cars, houses all over the world and have people bow down to them. To me, that's frightful behaviour.

    We wanted to make a record that sounded like we do live, ... We sort of stripped away a lot of the production of this record and tried to make it bare bones.

    No, I like being a role model because I know how much comfort my musical idols brought me.

    I don't find any kind of tension very productive, ... I find it destructive, actually. I think this record was made despite the mood in our camp, and that something very productive came out of it, which came as a surprise.

    I mean, I tend to do my own thing, and that usually crosses purposes with everyone around me.

    The communication had gotten so bad that I don't think any of us know, even to this day, what was going on in each individual's mind. And we've never really spoken about it. But I do know that Butch felt that he quit.

    I was always embarrassed because my dad wore a suit and my mother wore flat pumps and a cozy jumper while my friends' parents were punks or hippies.

    I am a contradictory mess but I see it as my prerogative to change my mood like the weather.

    A lot of my friends are artists or musicians or single parent families and I'm totally aware of how difficult it is for them to make ends meet.

    I feel the same way I did when I was in school. I'm having the same insecurities. They don't go away just because they call you a sex symbol.

    I want to hang out in Edinburgh with my friends and eat fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

    We discussed it in an adult fashion over dinner one day and since then a burden has been lifted from everybody and our live shows have been incredible.


    Starbucks is my main fix and it's usually you people working in there - sometimes they're actually shaking. It just makes me feel horrendous because I've been in that situation.

    We just wanted to make a record that sounded cool. So we stole from hip-hop, we stole from techno and blues and mashed them all up.

    I'm fairly in control and I don't like to flirt particularly. I mean, obviously if I meet someone who I think is hot, of course I'll want to flirt with him, But in general I don't use it in day-to-day life.

    At the end of the day, though, the band members have to be strong. It's down to the individuals in the unit. Listen to me, I'm talking like I'm in the army and this is my squadron.

    I couldn't feel good about myself hanging out in Armani clothes when my girlfriend can't even pay her heating bill. I'd feel foul and I'd be embarrassed.

    Being the chaotic bunch we are, we should have put a press release together but we didn't. We were quite taken aback by how big a deal was made of it. But we love each other and we still want to work together. We're just taking a break. We've had a crazy decade.

    Sex is not the enemy . . . I won't feel guilty no matter what they're telling me,

    I've got a lot of stamina and I enjoy people, so having lots of people around doesn't freak me out.

    I've got no timetable. I'm sort of sick of timetables, to be honest. I just want to live my life a little freely and not adhere to any schedule - just make music and have fun.

    I don't think we feel Garbage will ever be completely over. It's part of our lives, we still all get on well and love each other. We're taking a hiatus, I don't know if we're calling it a day. I don't think I'll ever make music with another band.

    I am not a sexy woman, I'm not beautiful, I'm not a sex kitten, I don't flirt with people, yet I've been tagged more of sex symbol than women who truly are and I that's solely because I don't reveal too much: people are curious.

    I like the feeling that I'm giving young women self-confidence. It sounds so cliched, but it can be very moving.

    It's definitely an intrinsic part of my makeup that makes me want to see black when everyone else is seeing white.

    I am laughably aggressive, and the rest of the band is very laid back, so we mix well.


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