Metallica is going to be one of those bands you look back on in the year 2008, that people will still listen to the way I still listen to Zeppelin and Sabbath albums.

I don't want to grow up,' Tom Waits said it. I live it. I put myself in a position to be a kid as long as I want to. I play loud music and scream for a living.

I tell you very honestly, 1 billion percent, I have never regretted leaving Metallica.

When I came into Metallica, I had to do justice to Cliff's work, but I also had to put my own signature on it. No one could be Cliff Burton; Cliff Burton was the Jimi Hendrix of bass.

The past is where its supposed to be.

I still play music for the same reasons as when I first started; for the energy, the feeling, the interaction with others. Not for the money, ego or greed.

You can't just put any four people together and it goes 'yaaaaah', y'know?

I thought I'd do something nice for the band... I'll hang myself.

I'm busier than a busy person. People aren't scared to play this raucous, harsh music over radio speakers, so I think it's the perfect time to get in with some real serious, heavy bands.

I ended up gettin a little Gibson amp and a bass, because of Gene Simmons of Kiss. Myself and three other kids would pretend to be Kiss - I liked Gene the best.

I play the real instruments. I don't waste my time with anything else.

If success was an overnight journey, its prize would become valueless.

No one can take your joy away from you, unless you willingly give it to them through repeated negative interpretations of your experiences.

A moment will pass, but a movement will last.

Aesthetic value is often the by-product of the artist striving to do something else.

I grew up in front of a television. I guess I'll grow old inside of one.

For the sort of potential that a human being carries, it is a very brief life.

Oh, I'm ready. Are you ready? It doesn't matter if you're ready!!!

A man must walk before he can fly - one cannot fly into flying.

I'll just let my work speak for itself, as every artist should.

I think anytime that you go to the extreme of any mode of economics, be it capitalism or communism, you have these feedback mechanisms that make the system turn in on itself.