Sourced

• When a man lies, he murders some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives. All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the Kingdom of Salvation take me home?
  • Lyrics for "To Live Is to Die" on the album "...And Justice for All" (Which is said to be the last song and the last poem he wrote) - spoken by James Hetfield.

Unsourced

• “To live is to die.”
• “Control your life through insanity.”
• “We do what we wanna do--if they consider that selling out then… Whatever.”
• “You don’t burn out from going too fast. You burn out from going too slow and getting bored.”
• "When I started, I decided to devote my life to it and not get sidetracked by all the other bullshit life has to offer"
• "Personally, I would say the 'master' of this whole thing is fate... Whoever is on the playing field is fair game, and it's up to them to avoid being used."
• "Every once in awhile we may fall on our face, but we insist on doing what we wanna do."
• "We do what we want...... We don't care what anyone else thinks" -- from Cliff 'em All
• Interviewer: What would you say to a band that's just starting out on the rock scene today?
  Cliff Burton: Quit!