Charles Manson is a mass murder criminal and a former leader of a cult group called the Manson Family in California. Manson is said to be a prostitute son and has spent most of his life behind bars in various juvenile centers and prisons. Generally, the life history of Charles Manson has been associated with various crimes since his childhood, including burglary, federal crimes, murders, and more. However, Charles Manson was considered a hero by his hippie followers. He had followers and was the leader of the “Manson Family” which was a sort of commune in the state of California but his followers committed murders at his request. These were known as the Tate-LaBianca murders. They were gruesome and horrifying and ultimately led to his arrest.
Charles Manson was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. He had some very controversial ideas he expressed through songs and also through his writings.
Charles Manson Quotes
The following are some of the most outrageous and shocking quotes by Charles Manson.
1. “You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody’s crazy.” — Charles Manson
2. “I’m nobody I’m a tramp, a bum, a hobo I’m a boxcar And a jug of wine And a straight razor …if you get too close to me.” — Charles Manson
3. “So for you People who are filled with fear that I might someday be released: breathe easy, I don’t see it happening.” — Charles Manson
4. “Total paranoia is just total awareness.” — Charles Manson
5. “I was a beatnik in the ’50s before the hippies came along.” — Charles Manson
6. “Look down at me And you see a fool,
Look up at me And you see a god,
Look straight at me And you see yourself.” — Charles Manson
7. “Sanity is a small box; insanity is everything.” — Charles Manson
8. “My father is the jailhouse. My father is your system… I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you.” — Charles Manson
9. “No sense makes sense.” — Charles Manson
10. “In my mind’s eye, my thoughts light fires in your cities.” — Charles Manson
11. “The real strong have no need to prove it to the phonies.” — Charles Manson
12. “I don’t wanna take my time going to work, I got a motorcycle And a sleeping bag And ten or fifteen girls. What the hell I wanna go off And go to work for? Work for what? Money? I got all the money in the world. I’m the king, man. I run the underworld, guy. I decide who does what And where they do it at. What am I gonna run around like some teeny bopper somewhere for someone else’s money? I make the money man, I roll the nickels. The game is mine. I deal the cards” — Charles Manson
13. “I’m probably one of the most dangerous men in the world if I want to be. But I never wanted to be anything but me.” — Charles Manson
14. “I can’t judge any of you. I have no malice against you And no ribbons for you. But I think that it is high time that you all start looking at yourselves And judging the lie that you live in.” — Charles Manson
15. “Death is the greatest form of love.” — Charles Manson
16. “You got to realize; you’re the Devil as much as you’re God.” — Charles Manson
17. “I ain’t got no magical powers and mystical trips And all that kind of crap. It’s kind of silly.” — Charles Manson
18. “I’m nobody
I’m a tramp, a bum, a hobo
I’m a boxcar And a jug of wine
And a straight razor …if you get too close to me” — Charles Manson
19. “Fear of Vikings build castles.” — Charles Manson
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20. “The real strong have no need to prove it to the phonies.” — Charles Manson
21. “I never had long hair before I got busted. I never had a beard before I got busted.” — Charles Manson
22. “You are going to use this courtroom to kill me? I am going to fight for my life one way or another. You should let me do it with words.” — Charles Manson
23. “We’re told, everybody, that all things are bad. Bad is not good And good is not bad. Bad And good go together. You have to accept one to understand the other. You’ve got to accept yourself as God. You’ve got to realize you’re just the devil just as much as you’re God, that you’re everything And you’re nothing at all.” — Charles Manson
24. “You People would convict a grilled cheese sandwich of murder And the People wouldn’t question it.” — Charles Manson
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25. “We`re not in Wonderland anymore, Alice.” — Charles Manson
26. “I’m not of this generation.” — Charles Manson
27. “Just because you’re convicted in a courtroom doesn’t mean you’re guilty of something.” — Charles Manson
28. “The mind is endless. You put me in a dark solitary cell, And to you that’s the end, to me it’s the beginning, it’s the universe in there, there’s a world in there, And I’m free.” — Charles Manson
29. “If you’re going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy.” — Charles Manson
30. “I don’t know what ‘my way’ is. Everybody keeps telling me I got all these things. I read the other day where I had magical powers. I told everybody in the chapel ‘zap, zap, zap, zap!’ I said ‘Where’s my magical powers at?’ Well, you can’t believe what you read in the press. I ain’t got no magical powers or mystical trips or anything like that. It’s kind of silly.” — Charles Manson
31. “How old am I? I’m as old as my mother told me. How’s that?” — Charles Manson
32. “Now I am too beautiful to be set free.” — Charles Manson
33. “Pain’s not bad, it’s good. It teaches you things. I understand that.” — Charles Manson
34. “Remorse for what? You People have done everything in the world to me. Doesn’t that give me equal rights?” — Charles Manson
35. “I never thought I was normal, never tried to be normal.” — Charles Manson
36. “There’s been fifty-million People that died since Sharon Tate died and I got everybody in Santa Claus land chasing me, trying to make me feel remorse for one psychotic episode of (Tex) Watson.” — Charles Manson
37. “These children that come at you with knives–they are your children. You taught them. I didn’t teach them. I just tried to help them stand up.” — Charles Manson
38. “You are not you, you are just reflections, you are reflections of everything that you think you know, everything that you have been taught.” — Charles Manson
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39. “I have eaten out of your garbage cans to stay out of jail. I have worn your second-hand clothes…I have done my best to get along in your world And now you want to kill me, and I look at you, And then I say to myself, You want to kill me? Ha! I’m already dead, have been all my life. I’ve spent twenty-three years in tombs that you built.” — Charles Manson
40. “I know And understand you are much more than what I think you are but first I must deal with you the way I think you even If that’s only my own thinking And not you.” — Charles Manson
41. “The Charlie Manson that you’ve created, that’s not me. That’s only an illusion in your minds, it hasn’t got anything to do with me.” — Charles Manson
42. “The way out of a room is not through the door. Just don’t want out. And you’re free…” — Charles Manson
43. “I’m Jesus Christ, whether you want to accept it or not, I don’t care.” — Charles Manson
44. “In the penitentiary you learn this: don’t lie. Don’t lie, man. If someone catches you in a lie you leave yourself open to get snuffed. And all my life I lived in that eye of: tell the truth. Pay your debts. Don’t get involved in other people’s business. Do your number, do your time. And you learn to stand on your own. So, I am walking and standing on my own. People see me standing on my own And not too many People in your world can do that. And I don’t realize that at that particular time. I don’t realize how weak And mindless you People are.” — Charles Manson
45. “Animals shouldn’t be hunted And nature shouldn’t be disturbed, even destroyed, to benefit the whims of mankind” — Charles Manson
46. “There is no way that you can know the taste of water unless you drink it or unless it has rained on you or unless you jump in the river.” — Charles Manson
47. “I can’t dislike you, but I will say this to you: you haven’t got long before you are all going to kill yourselves, because you are all crazy. And you can project it back at me, but I am only what lives inside each And every one of you.” — Charles Manson
48. “From the world of darkness, I did loose demons And devils in the power of scorpions to torment.” — Charles Manson
49. “You are upset because one of your actors got on the wrong lane doing something with the wrong people. And you want to blame somebody else for it. And you got to dig up some poor-ass idiot that doesn’t have the brain of a retarded spastican And make him a cult leader!” — Charles Manson
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60 Minutes – Charles Manson Prison Interview
In the late 1960’s Charles Manson led a small, fanatical cult on a self-styled war against society. He and several female followers were convicted of at least seven murders, including actress Sharon Tate – then eight months pregnant. The world was shocked not just by the cruelty of the crimes but the robot-like behaviour of Manson’s ‘family’ during their trial. For many, the only comfort was the thought that Manson would be put away for life. That’s why this 1981 interview caused such a stir. Not only do we see Manson, cold and unrepentant – but we hear his thoughts on gaining parole and getting out of prison ‘to play like a human’.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the above quotes by Charles Manson provide some insights into his disturbed mind. He often has made many deranged, rambling statements over the years. He tried to obtain parole many times, but was regularly denied.
He died on November 19, 2017 in California at the age of 83.
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Image Credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation / Public domain
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Charlie Manson was not a well educated man and rumored to be a dejected son of a prostitute that paid little attention to him as a child. The psychology resulting of such a background is predictable. After reading his quotes, he appears to invest some thought before he speaks. Further, he appears to want recognition, and at times forgiveness and release from prison. He attempts to impress the listener with profound wisdom, a strategy to gain acceptance and admiration. He wasn’t a monster, just a simple man who manipulated rich kids into killing and robbing. He had nothing to lose, he had nothing to start with.