5 Of The Realest Quotes From Lemmy Kilmister

Just four days after turning 70, Lemmy Kilmister—the fearless frontman and bassist of Motörhead—passed away on December 28, 2015, in his Los Angeles home. He’d only been diagnosed with an “extremely aggressive” cancer 48 hours earlier. His death marked the end of an era—rock had lost one of its last true rebels.

Lemmy wasn’t just known for his thunderous bass lines and gravelly voice. He was a larger-than-life character—part outlaw, part philosopher. A drinker, womanizer, and unapologetic hell-raiser, Lemmy lived life fast, loud, and on his own terms. And along the way, he dropped some memorable quotes that captured the spirit of rock and roll like no one else could.

On Getting Older

Lemmy shares a piece of advice about aging:

“In your twenties, you think you are immortal. In your thirties, you hope you are immortal. In your forties, you just pray it doesn’t hurt too much, and by the time you reach my age, you become convinced that, well, it could be just around the corner. Do I think about death a lot? It’s difficult not to when you’re 65, son.”

On Teenage Mischief

Recalling a wild memory from his youth, Lemmy said:

“I was 13 and living in Benllech and I knew this guy called Tom who had a prosthetic arm. One night we sneaked into this Girl Guides camp and, you know, started getting down to business. So there I am bathing in the soft afterglow in some girl’s tent when, all of a sudden, I hear ‘Whack! Ow! Whack! Ow!’ I thought, ‘what the bloody hell is that?’ and looked out to see Tom running naked down the road with this Guide mistress belting him over the head with his own false arm.”

On Being Fired from Hawkwind

His thoughts? “Being fired from Hawkwind for drugs is a bit like being pushed off the Empire State Building for liking heights, you know?” Lemmy said, always sharp with his analogies.

On Hotel Living

As Lemmy explains:

“I like hotels. They give you clean sheets. They bring you your meals, and then they take that dirty shit away and wash it. Wonderful! I don’t let them in the room to clean it up. I make my own bed. I don’t want them to fuck with my stuff. They take things away that you want to keep. I mean, I’ve got a pizza in that second drawer down there that I bought the first night I was here, you know, because they only sell you the big ones, so I eat a pizza for three days, and it’s great. It’s an acquired taste, you know?”

On Rock ’n’ Roll

With total conviction, Lemmy once said:

“If you can give the kids a good time then that’s all it’s for. Forget art and all that – that’s bullshit. If you can send that shiver down a kid’s back then that’s what it’s all about. All else is bullshit.”

He also adds:

“That’s what rock’n’roll was for in the first place and as far as I’m concerned that’s what it’s still about. I’m trying to give them that feeling I felt the first time I heard ‘All Shook Up’ or ‘Good Golly Miss Molly.’ I just want to send that shiver up their back because it’s the best thing I ever felt. It’s better than screwing.”

Lemmy didn’t just live rock and roll—he was rock and roll. And through his words and legacy, he still is.