2. “I won’t be a rock star. I will be a legend.” – Freddie Mercury
3. “I always knew I was a star, and now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me.” – Freddie Mercury
4. “The most important thing is to live a fabulous life. As long as it’s fabulous, I don’t care how long it is.” – Freddie Mercury
5. “Boredom is the biggest disease in the world, darling.” – Freddie Mercury
6. “Modern paintings are like women. You’ll never enjoy them if you try to understand them.” – Freddie Mercury
7. “You can be anything you want to be. Just turn yourself into anything you think that you could ever be.” – Freddie Mercury
8. “The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is part of us, and we want to be dandy.” – Freddie Mercury
9. “I’m possessed by love, but isn’t everybody?” – Freddie Mercury
10. “Success is my breathing space. I brought it on myself. I will price it. I will cash it. I can take it or leave it. Loneliness is my hiding place, breastfeeding myself. What more can I say? I have swallowed the bitter pill. I can taste it. Life is real.” – Freddie Mercury
11. “I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear.” – Freddie Mercury
12. “I like to be surrounded by splendid things.” – Freddie Mercury
13. “I was born to love you with every single beat of my heart. I was born to take care of you every single day of my life.” – Freddie Mercury
14. “Oh, I was not made for Heaven. No, I don’t want to go to Heaven. Hell is much better. Think of all the interesting people you’re going to meet down there!” – Freddie Mercury
15. “I am a romantic, but I do put up a barrier around myself, so it is hard for people to get in and to know the real me.” – Freddie Mercury
16. “I’m so powerful on stage that I seem to have created a monster.” – Freddie Mercury
17. “Excess is part of my nature. Dullness is a disease.” – Freddie Mercury
18. “Money may not buy happiness, but it can damn well give it!” – Freddie Mercury
19. “If I die tomorrow, I will not regret. I really did everything I could.” – Freddie Mercury
20. “We are all waiting for when there will be peace on earth and the end of the war. If this happens, then it would be a miracle.” – Freddie Mercury
21. “I’m not afraid to speak out and say things that I want to do or do the things that I want to do, so um, I think in the end, being natural, and being, being actually genuine is what wins.” – Freddie Mercury
22. “It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, I feel good, and no one’s going to stop me now.” – Freddie Mercury
23. “I love the fact that I can make people happy, in any form. Even if it’s just an hour of their lives, if I can make them feel lucky, or make them feel good, or bring a smile to a sour face, that to me is worthwhile.” – Freddie Mercury
24. “You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man, and that is the most bitter type of loneliness. Success has brought me world idolization and millions of pounds. But it’s prevented me from having the one thing we all need—a loving, ongoing relationship.” – Freddie Mercury
25. “Whatever I am doing, I am not doing it for money, but for music.” – Freddie Mercury
26. “When the whole point of Queen was to be original.” – Freddie Mercury
27. “This thing called love, it cries like a baby in a cradle all night. It swings, it jives, it shakes all over like a jellyfish. I kinda like it.” – Freddie Mercury
28. “A lot of my songs are fantasy. I can dream up all kinds of things. That’s the kind of world I live in. It’s very sort of flamboyant, and that’s the kind of way I write. I love it.” – Freddie Mercury
29. “In fact, we all need danger and excitement. I’m never scared of putting myself out on a limb.” – Freddie Mercury
30. “I have fun with my clothes onstage. It’s not a concert you’re seeing. It’s a fashion show.” – Freddie Mercury
31. “If it’s planned, it’s boring.” – Freddie Mercury
32. “Sometimes I feel so sad, so sad, so bad. But no one’s going to stop me now, no one. When I’m performing, I’m an extrovert. Yet inside, I’m a completely different man.” – Freddie Mercury
33. “I never thought of myself as the leader, the most important person, perhaps.” – Freddie Mercury
34. “Who wants to live forever? Who dares to love forever when love must die?” – Freddie Mercury
35. “In terms of love, you’re not in control, and I hate that feeling. I seem to write a lot of sad songs because I’m a very tragic person. But there’s always an element of humour at the end.” – Freddie Mercury
36. “Don’t stop me now. I’m having such a good time. I’m having a ball.” – Freddie Mercury
37. “I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger defying the laws of gravity.” – Freddie Mercury
38. “We should never be disappointed with money because we only get what we have got.” – Freddie Mercury
39. “It destroys the soul to hear that you’re all hype, that you have no talent, and that your whole career has been contrived.” – Freddie Mercury
40. “You either have the magic, or you don’t. There’s no way you can work up to it.” – Freddie Mercury
41. “I don’t want to die, so sometimes, I think it would have been better if I had never been born.” – Freddie Mercury
42. “What you must understand is that my voice comes from the energy of the audience. The better they are, the better I get.” – Freddie Mercury
43. “I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.” – Freddie Mercury
44. “If I had to do it all over again? Why not? I would do it a little bit differently.” – Freddie Mercury
45. “Put out the good and keep the bad. Don’t believe all you read in the Bible.” – Freddie Mercury
46. “I’m a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva. I’m going to go, go, go. There’s no stopping me.” – Freddie Mercury
47. “I’m okay. I’m all right. I ain’t going to face no defeat.” – Freddie Mercury
48. “Fly the moon and reach for the stars!” – Freddie Mercury
49. “I’m a very emotional person, a person of real extremes, and that’s often destructive both to me and others.” – Freddie Mercury
50. “I’m hopeless with money. I simply spend what I’ve got.” – Freddie Mercury
51. “The bigger, the better in everything.” – Freddie Mercury
52. “I dress to kill, but tastefully.” – Freddie Mercury
53. “I’ve paid my dues. Time after time.” – Freddie Mercury
54. “I don’t like the way my teeth protrude. I’m going to have them done, but I just haven’t had the time. Apart from that, I’m perfect.” – Freddie Mercury
55. “Are you happy? Are you satisfied? How long can you stand the heat.” – Freddie Mercury
56. “We’ve gone overboard on every Queen album. But that’s Queen.” – Freddie Mercury
57. “The reason we’re successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course.” – Freddie Mercury
58. “I’m as gay as a daffodil, my dear!” – Freddie Mercury
59. “I’m very emotional. I think I may go mad in several years’ time.” – Freddie Mercury
60. “On stage, I am a devil, but I’m hardly a social reject.” – Freddie Mercury
61. “One year of love is better than a lifetime alone.” – Freddie Mercury
62. “I can’t win. Love is Russian roulette for me. No one loves the real me inside. They’re all in love with my fame, my stardom. I fall in love far too quickly and end up getting hurt all the time. I’ve got scars all over, but I can’t help myself because basically, I’m a softie. I have this hard, macho shell—which I project on stage, but there’s a much softer side. too, which melts like butter.” – Freddie Mercury
63. “I do not have love does not mean I don’t have anybody.” – Freddie Mercury
64. “My game of love has just begun. Love runs from my head down to my toes. My love is pumping through my veins. Play the game, driving me insane.” – Freddie Mercury
65. “It’s strange, but it’s true I can’t get over the way you love me like you do.” – Freddie Mercury
66. “You’re headed for disaster ’cause you never read the signs. Too much love will kill you every time.” – Freddie Mercury
67. “Love of my life, you’ve hurt me. You’ve broken my heart, and now you leave me. Love of my life, can’t you see? Bring it back, bring it back, and don’t take it away from me because you don’t know what it means to me.” – Freddie Mercury
68. “I would love to really have a beautiful relationship with somebody, but it never seems to work out. What I would like most of all is to be in a state of blissful love.” – Freddie Mercury
69. “The problem with love is that you lose control, and that is a very vulnerable state to be in.” – Freddie Mercury
70. “Touch my tears with your lips. Touch my world with your fingertips. And we can have forever. And we can love forever. Forever is our today.” – Freddie Mercury
71. “A concert is not a live rendition of our album. It’s a theatrical event.” – Freddie Mercury
72. “One night, Roger was in a foul mood, and he threw his entire bloody drumset across the stage. The thing only just missed me. I might have been killed.” – Freddie Mercury
73. “We were disliked by the press in the early days because they couldn’t put their finger on us, and that was the case with Zeppelin as well.” – Freddie Mercury
74. “I thought up the name Queen early on. It couldn’t have been King. It doesn’t have the same ring or aura as Queen. It was a very regal name, and it sounded splendid. It’s strong, very universal, and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I feel that the name Queen actually fitted that time. It lent itself to a lot of things, like the theatre, and it was grand. It was very pompous, with all kinds of connotations. It meant so much.” – Freddie Mercury
75. “In the early days, we just wore black onstage. Very bold, my dear. Then we introduced white, for variety, and it simply grew and grew.” – Freddie Mercury
76. “Back in the old days, we were often compared to Led Zeppelin. If we did something with harmony, it was the Beach Hoys. Something heavy was Led Zeppelin.” – Freddie Mercury
77. “I was never too keen on the British music press. They’ve called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn’t write our own songs.” – Freddie Mercury
78. “We’re a bit flashy, but the music’s not one big noise.” – Freddie Mercury
79. “That video shocked quite a lot of people because they thought we didn’t have that fun element. We got into our roles so easily. My God! I think that’s one of our best videos to date. In fact, it still makes me chuckle every time I see it, and I’ve seen it a lot of times. I’m glad we did it.” – Freddie Mercury
80. “Does it mean this? Does it mean that? That’s all anybody wants to know. I’d say what any decent poet would say if anyone dared ask him to analyze his work—if you see it, darling, then it’s there!” – Freddie Mercury
81. “That was really when the Queen volcano erupted when it suddenly just went bang! That single sold over a million and a quarter copies in Britain alone, which is outrageous. Imagine all those grooving to it!” – Freddie Mercury
82. “About 10 years ago, I knew three chords on the guitar. Now, in 1982, I know three chords on the guitar.” – Freddie Mercury
83. “I was always keen to do a solo album. I just wanted it to be the right time and the right place so that I could actually work properly on the songs that I wanted to do before I got too old. I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out, and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore, which I really couldn’t do within Queen.” – Freddie Mercury
84. “I think my melodies are superior to my lyrics.” – Freddie Mercury
85. “When we began, we approached it the way we did because we were not prepared to be out-of-work musicians, ever. We said either take it on as a serious commodity or don’t do it at all.” – Freddie Mercury
86. “When I’m dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance.” – Freddie Mercury
87. “But, you know, we spent two years putting our act together.” – Freddie Mercury
88. “The show must go on.” – Freddie Mercury
89. “The lavish presentation appeals to me, and I’ve got to convince the others.” – Freddie Mercury
90. “You know, I designed the Queen crest. I simply combined all the creatures that represent our star signs, and I don’t even believe in astrology.” – Freddie Mercury
91. “We’re a very expensive group. We break a lot of rules. It’s unheard of to combine opera with a rock theme, my dear.” – Freddie Mercury
92. “I can’t believe that someone hasn’t written a new song to overtake it.” – Freddie Mercury
93. “It wasn’t just one precise label. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.” – Freddie Mercury
94. “We are the champions, my friends, and we’ll keep on fighting ’till the end.” – Freddie Mercury
95. “Inside my heart is breaking. My make-up may be flaking, but my smile, still, stays on!” – Freddie Mercury
96. “Is Billy Idol just doing a bad Elvis pout, or was he born that way?” – Freddie Mercury
97. “I guess I’ve always lived the glamorous life of a star. It’s nothing new. I used to spend down to the last dime.” – Freddie Mercury
98. “Born to be kings. We’re the princes of the universe!” – Freddie Mercury
99. “Can you imagine how terrible it is when you’ve got everything, and you’re still desperately lonely? That is awful beyond words.” – Freddie Mercury
100. “We have no such thing as a budget anymore. Our manager freaks when we show him the bill. We’re lavish to the bone, but all our money goes back into the product.” – Freddie Mercury
101. “I am loved by thousands, but I feel like the loneliest man in the world.” – Freddie Mercury
102. “It’s been no bed of roses. No pleasure cruise.” – Freddie Mercury
103. “Anywhere the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me.” – Freddie Mercury
104. “You had your time. You had the power. You’ve yet to have your finest hour.” – Freddie Mercury
105. “A baby I was when you took my hand. The light of the night burned bright.” – Freddie Mercury
106. “You had to kill the conversation. You always had the upper hand.” – Freddie Mercury
107. “Open your eyes. Look up to the skies and see.” – Freddie Mercury
108. “I’ve done my sentence but committed no crime.” – Freddie Mercury
109. “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” – Freddie Mercury
110. “Yes, I’m proud more than anything.” – Freddie Mercury
111. “Get on your bikes and ride!” – Freddie Mercury
112. “Don’t become some background noise. A backdrop for the girls and boys.” – Freddie Mercury
113. “Goodbye everybody, I’ve got to go. Got to leave you all behind and face the truth.” – Freddie Mercury
114. “I have to be sure when I walk out that door. Oh, how I want to be free.” – Freddie Mercury
115. “Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality.” – Freddie Mercury
116. “Led Zeppelin is the greatest. Robert Plant is one of the most original vocalists of our time. As a rock band, they deserve the kind of success they’re getting.” – Freddie Mercury
117. “Montserrat Caballé is sensational. She has that same kind of emotion as Aretha Franklin. The way she delivers a song is so very natural.” – Freddie Mercury
118. “My songs are like BIC razors. For fun, for modern consumption. You listen to it, like it, discard it, then on to the next disposable pop.” – Freddie Mercury
119. “ is very important. He’s my idol. He sort of epitomizes from his presentation on stage the whole works of a rock star.” – Freddie Mercury
120. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m doing it out of pride. It’s something to be proud of—that I’m actually in with all the ‘biggies,’ all the biggest stars, and that I can do something worthwhile.” – Freddie Mercury
121. “The more you open up, the more you get hurt. So basically, I’m just riddled with scars, and I just don’t want any more.” – Freddie Mercury
122. “When I’m dead, who cares? I don’t.” – Freddie Mercury
123. “I just got to get out of this prison cell. One day, I’m going to be free, Lord! Find me somebody to love.” – Freddie Mercury
124. “Buddy, you’re a boy, make a big noise playing in the street, going to be a big man someday.” – Freddie Mercury
125. “Yeah, I’m a rocket ship on my way to Mars on a collision course. I am a satellite. I’m out of control. I am a sex machine ready to reload, like an atom bomb about to explode. I’m burning through the sky. Yeah, 200 degrees. That’s why they call me Mister Fahrenheit. I’m travelling at the speed of light. I want to make a supersonic woman of Fahrenheit.” – Freddie Mercury
126. “I got my diploma from Ealing College of Art, in graphics and illustration.” – Freddie Mercury
127. “I was thinking about football when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song, something the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses. I wanted to write something that everyone could sing along to, like a football chant. And at the same time, I thought it would be nice to have a winning song that’s meant for everybody. It worked a treat.” – Freddie Mercury
128. “I open up to her more than anybody else. We have gone through a lot of ups and downs in our time together, but that has made our relationship all the stronger.” – Freddie Mercury
129. “The others don’t like my interviews, and frankly, I don’t care much for theirs.” – Freddie Mercury
130. “If I didn’t do this well, I just wouldn’t have anything to do. I can’t cook, and I’d be a terrible housewife.” – Freddie Mercury
131. “I don’t expect to make old bones, and what’s more, I don’t really care. I certainly don’t have any aspirations to live to 70. It would be so boring. I will be dead and gone long before that.” – Freddie Mercury
132. “I don’t talk to everybody, so they don’t really know the real me. I don’t think anybody will.” – Freddie Mercury
133. “My parents were very strict. They thought boarding school would do me good. So, when I was about seven, I was put in one in India for a while. That background helped me a lot because it taught me to fend for myself from a very early age and to be responsible. It was an upheaval of an upbringing, which seems to have worked, I guess.” – Freddie Mercury
134. “Hey man, Jaws was never my scene, and I don’t like Star Wars.” – Freddie Mercury
135. “Music was a sideline to everything we did, and the school was a breeding ground for musicians. I got my diploma, and then I thought I’d chance it as a freelance artist. I did it for a couple of months, but then I thought, my God, I’ve done enough. The interest just wasn’t there.” – Freddie Mercury
136. “I’m not into business at all.” – Freddie Mercury
137. “If we’re weird onstage, I don’t know what you’d call the Tubes.” – Freddie Mercury
138. “I have visions of actually having a film made of my life story, one day, which I would have a key part in, I might not play the lead myself. My dears, the things I’ve done in my lifetime. It’ll be totally triple x-rated, I’ll tell you!” – Freddie Mercury
139. “What will I be doing in 20 years’ time? I’ll be dead, darling! Are you crazy?” – Freddie Mercury
140. “I’ve taken my bows and my curtain calls. You brought me fame and fortune, and everything that goes with it. I thank you all.” – Freddie Mercury
141. “Interview? Oh, don’t be ridiculous.” – Freddie Mercury
142. “Steve walks warily down the street with his brim pulled way down low. Ain’t no sound but the sound of his feet machine guns ready to go.” – Freddie Mercury
143. “She keeps her Moët & Chandon in her pretty cabinet. ‘Let them eat cake,’ she says, just like Marie Antoinette.” – Freddie Mercury
144. “No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married.” – Freddie Mercury
145. “You got mud on your face, you big disgrace. Kicking your can all over the place, singing. We will. We will rock you.” – Freddie Mercury
146. “Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest. He took it over the edge.” –
147. “Freddie Mercury was a huge source of inspiration to me as a child.” – George Michael.
148. “Every band should study Queen at Live Aid. If you really feel like that barrier is gone, you become Freddie Mercury. I consider him the greatest frontman of all time.” – Dave Grohl
149. “I lost somebody who I thought was my eternal love. When he died, I felt we’d had a marriage.” – Mary Austin