Top 40 Layne Staley Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “If I can’t be my own, I’d feel better dead.”

— Layne Staley

2. “I’d like to fly, but my wings have been so denied.”

— Layne Staley

3. “I wish I could just hug you all, but I’m not gonna.”

— Layne Staley

4. “Whatever dramas are going on in my life, I always find that place inside my head where I see myself as the cleanest, tallest, strongest, wisest person that I can be.”

— Layne Staley

5. “I’m not into religion, but I have a good grasp on my spirituality. I just believe that I’m not the greatest power on this earth. I didnt create myself, because I would have done a hell of a better job.”

— Layne Staley

6. “Drugs are not the way to the light. They won’t lead to a fairy-tale life, they lead to suffering.”

— Layne Staley

7. “I guess I can go anywhere I want. If only I knew where to go.”

— Layne Staley

8. “I wrote about drugs, and I didn’t think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them. I didn’t want fans to think heroin was cool. But then I’ve had fans come up to me and give me the thumbs up, telling me they’re high. That’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen.”

— Layne Staley

9. “My bad habits aren’t my title. My strengths and my talent are my title.”

— Layne Staley

10. “When everyone goes home, you’re stuck with yourself.”

— Layne Staley

11. “It was all about music, about getting your friends to come and see you play. I don’t see that same intimacy happening very much today.”

— Layne Staley

12. “We try to be real nice and friendly to people, but sometimes they take advantage of that.”

— Layne Staley

13. “We write about ourselves because we know about ourselves.”

— Layne Staley

14. “Drugs will have a huge effect on my work for the rest of my life, whether I’m using or not.”

— Layne Staley

15. “I don’t take part in it the way I used to-the bimbos, the free beers, free drugs, all that. That’s still there if you want it, but I don’t really seek that out any more.”

— Layne Staley

16. “What do you mean, I’m a wild front man! I’m jumping all over, I do the dance moves...”

— Layne Staley

17. “Music is the doorway that has led me to drawing, photography, and writing.”

— Layne Staley

18. “We survived a Slayer crowd every night for about 50 days and thought we could do about anything after that.”

— Layne Staley

19. “There are lasting consequences for using drugs. I’ll still be paying for my prior use.”

— Layne Staley

20. “Being me is no different than being most anyone else, I guess.”

— Layne Staley

21. “My bed isn’t made, I’m tired, I haven’t slept well for two weeks. I haven’t been laid in a month. I don’t have a girlfriend. I have a warrant for my arrest.”

— Layne Staley

22. “Sure God’s all powerful, but does he have lips?”

— Layne Staley

23. “There’s no huge, deep message in any of the songs. We recorded a few months of being human.”

— Layne Staley

24. “I haven’t read anything but regurgitated rumors. Nothing new, and nothing true.”

— Layne Staley

25. “I started out when I was about 12, playing drums. I started singing when I was about 15.”

— Layne Staley

26. “Music is the career Im lucky enough to get paid for, but I have other desires and passions.”

— Layne Staley

27. “I don’t think any drug that can cause brain damage, failing kidneys, hardening arteries, pain, and suffering should be made available.”

— Layne Staley

28. “I’m not doing well. Don’t try to talk about this to my sister Liz. She will know it sooner or later.”

— Layne Staley

29. “I found out through the Internet that I have AIDS. I learned that I was dead. Where else would I find these things?”

— Layne Staley

30. “I saw all the suffering that Kurt Cobain went through. I saw this real vibrant person turn into a real shy, timid, withdrawn person.”

— Layne Staley

31. “Andrew Wood’s death changed things for a few weeks. I probably got even heavier into drugs after that.”

— Layne Staley

32. “Kurt and I weren’t the closest of friends, but I knew him well enough to be devastated by his death. For such a quiet person, he was so excited about having a child.”

— Layne Staley

33. “Every article I see is dope this, junkie that, whiskey this – that ain’t my title.”

— Layne Staley

34. “People have a right to ask questions and dig deep when you’re hurting people and things around you.”

— Layne Staley

35. “Los Angeles, I don’t like that town. Too decadent, and it’s slimy.”

— Layne Staley

36. “I was in a band when I was 15. We were a glam band. Then I couldn’t afford to buy makeup. At the time that was the thing.”

— Layne Staley

37. “At home I’m just a guy who has interests that extend far beyond music.”

— Layne Staley

38. “I don’t do much else but stay in my hotel room.”

— Layne Staley

39. “A lot of power-pop comes out of LA, a lot of speed metal comes out of New York.”

— Layne Staley

40. “One of the first bands to break out of Seattle was Heart.”

— Layne Staley