Dave Mustaine Quotes

I've overcome neglect and deprivation, abandonment and abuse.

I got hit a lot. I'm glad I lived through it.

There's many, many people who have been through a lot worse things than I went through. I lost my dad when I was 14 and to violence.

It is hard work to be good when you are very little and very hungry, and have many sticks to beat you, and no mother's lips to kiss you.

I always have this image of a woman running across a desert carrying children, trying to find water and food, not knowing when they'll get that. And her feet are slashed up from the dry, hard earth... Even when I'm uncomfortable, sometimes in pain, or just cold... I think, 'Thank God for what I've got.'

It's true that I suffered a lot, especially when I was younger.

Life's fairly excruciating. Painful things happen. Every now and then, you drag yourself out of the stream and stand on the bank gasping for air. I think that's how I work.

Appalling things can happen to children. And even a happy childhood is filled with sadnesses.

Everybody has terrible things that they deal with. Everybody. Just because you're some big shot rock star doesn't mean you're immune to having these awful tragedies in your life.

Even now I can't trust life. It did too many awful things to me as a kid.

Sickness, insanity and death were the angels that surrounded my cradle and they have followed me throughout my life.

Ghettos and barrios and abusive homes and trauma wards may produce scarred souls; they can cripple more human spirits than they strengthen.

I know that I'm very lucky to be alive. For 35 or 40 years I've spilt my blood and broke my bones and spent years in hospitals.

I think it is really sad that when people lose their homes they kind of lose their minds too.

In some ways, my gift for music and writing was born out of tragedy, really, and loss.

When I was young I lost everything.

I would not give my first 15 years to my worst enemy.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

Everybody faces pain. Everybody has trauma.

My mom got shot. My dad got shot. Some of the craziest stuff. All that happened to me.

I think everything that played a part in my life growing up is in my music. Being homeless, living in shelters, dealing with over-aged, older men that hit on me... all that is in the music.

When you're the good guy in a horror film, you're usually suffering a lot throughout the entire thing.

I'm not in the business of suffering.

I've been hit in the head a lot, but I don't think I have any problems, but I can't, for the life of me, remember a lot of my road stories and good times. When times are bad enough, that's all you can ever think about.

Nietzsche famously said "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." But what he failed to stress is that it almost kills you.