A life in quotes

Never afraid to speak her mind, Manson has always been keen to share her thoughts on life as a woman in rock

It’s definitely an intrinsic part of my make-up that makes me want to see black when everyone else is seeing white.

I have a temper on me that could hold back tides.

I refuse to step inside the ring and fight like a gladiator against my own. I’m not playing that game. Any woman who has survived a year or more of making music has my undying respect.

It’s everywhere, constant criticism of women’s appearance in magazines and online. It’s not easy to navigate.

One day I realised that it didn’t matter whether people loved me or not. I’m afraid of happy people. They’re chemically unbalanced.

A lot of celebrities just want money, fame, power, fancy cars, houses all over the world and have people bow down to them. To me, that’s frightful behaviour.

I was a redhead and a middle child; both can make you feel excluded. It’s like fighting to be included, in the swim of things. After a while you start to develop a bit of a victim mentality, which isn’t great for a happy life.

I mean, I tend to do my own thing, and that usually crosses purposes with everyone around me.

I want to hear an alternative viewpoint, and I don’t want girls to be defanged and declawed and pretty and mute.

I’m not a sexy woman, I’m not beautiful, I’m not a sex kitten, I don’t flirt, yet I’ve been tagged more of a sex symbol than women who truly are and that’s solely because I don’t reveal too much: people are curious.