Bob Marley Quotes: The Lyrics He Sang and Lines He Never Said

40 Uplifting Quotes By Reggae's Legend, Bob Marley

The best Bob Marley quotes are mostly his own song lyrics: lines about music, freedom, faith and love that he wrote and sang between the early 1960s and his death in 1981. Many of the long, romantic paragraphs shared online under his name, however, have no known link to him at all. Below you will find the lines he really sang, a few remarks reported from interviews, and a clear list of the sayings he probably never said.

Who Bob Marley was

Robert Nesta Marley was born on 6 February 1945 in Nine Mile, in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. (Some accounts say he was born Nesta Robert Marley and that a passport official later swapped the names.) In February 1962 he made his first recordings, including "Judge Not", for producer Leslie Kong. In 1963 he formed the group that became the Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, and in the late 1960s and early 1970s the trio also worked with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.

After the original Wailers split in 1974, Marley led Bob Marley and the Wailers to international fame. Exodus (1977) was later named "Album of the Century" by Time magazine, and the 1984 compilation Legend became the best-selling reggae album of all time. His record sales are estimated at more than 75 million. A committed Rastafarian, he wove faith, Pan-African ideas and the struggles of the poor into his songs.

His life was not only music. In December 1976 gunmen attacked his home in Kingston, wounding him, his wife Rita and his manager Don Taylor; two days later he still played the Smile Jamaica concert. At the One Love Peace Concert in 1978 he brought rival political leaders Michael Manley and Edward Seaga on stage to shake hands. Marley was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma in 1977 and died in Miami on 11 May 1981, aged 36. Jamaica awarded him the Order of Merit shortly before his death.

A note on two old stories: Marley was arrested for cannabis in Jamaica in 1968 and later convicted in London of possessing a small quantity, but the often-repeated tale that a month in prison turned him political, and that he read palms as a child, could not be confirmed from reliable sources.

Lines from his songs

These are the lines most people mean when they quote Marley. Each comes from a recorded song.

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." From "Trenchtown Rock" (1971), a celebration of the music of his home neighbourhood.
"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds." From "Redemption Song" on Uprising (1980). Marley adapted the idea from a 1937 speech by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia.
"One love, one heart, let's get together and feel all right." From "One Love/People Get Ready" on Exodus (1977). The popular extra phrase "one destiny" is not in the lyric.
"Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be all right." From "Three Little Birds" on Exodus (1977), perhaps his most quoted line of comfort.
"Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights." The title line of "Get Up, Stand Up" on Burnin' (1973), written with Peter Tosh. The same song contains the line about how you can fool some people sometimes, but not all the people all the time.
"Open your eyes and look within: are you satisfied with the life you're living?" From the title track of Exodus (1977).
"Wake up and live." The refrain of "Wake Up and Live" on Survival (1979), a song built around the image of life as a long road full of signs.
"When one door is closed, don't you know, another is open." From "Coming In from the Cold" on Uprising (1980).
"Love would never leave us alone." From "Could You Be Loved" on Uprising (1980).
"Don't gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver and gold." From "Zion Train" on Uprising (1980), echoing the Book of Proverbs.
"My feet is my only carriage." From "No Woman, No Cry" on Natty Dread (1974), a line about walking on when you have nothing else.
"Judge not, before you judge yourself." The opening idea of "Judge Not", recorded in 1962, among his very first songs.

Many of these songs are collected on the 1984 compilation Legend (on Amazon: Bob Marley - Legend). If you would rather play them yourself, there is also a chord songbook (Guitar Chord Songbook - Bob Marley).

Remarks reported from interviews and stories

Marley gave many interviews, often in Jamaican patois, and several lines from them circulate widely. The sources are usually interview transcripts and biographies rather than recordings, so wording varies.

On race and faith, he is widely reported to have said that he stood neither on the black man's side nor the white man's side, but on God's side. His father was a white Jamaican of English descent and his mother a black Jamaican, which gave the remark personal weight.
On his ambition, he is quoted as saying his one wish was to see people of every background, black, white, Chinese and everyone, living together.
On his music lasting, he reportedly told an interviewer: "My music will go on forever." The longer patois version continues that it may sound foolish, but when he knows facts he can say facts.
On cannabis, a sacrament in Rastafari, he is quoted calling herb "the healing of a nation" and saying it reveals you to yourself. These views reflect his faith; cannabis laws vary widely, and health questions are best taken to a doctor.
After the 1976 shooting, a well-known story has Marley explaining why he still performed: the people trying to make the world worse were not taking a day off, so why should he? This comes from an account by another person, not from a recording of Marley, so it is best described as "attributed".

Popular quotes he probably never said

A large share of "Bob Marley quotes" online are not his. None of the following appear in his songs, and no reliable source traces them to an interview:

"Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet." The earliest known source, found by Quote Investigator, is country singer Roger Miller, credited with it in a December 1972 newspaper review of his TV special.
The long passages beginning "The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you", "If she's amazing, she won't be easy", "Only once in your life, I truly believe" and "He's not perfect. You aren't either" read like modern internet prose, and none of them appear in his songs or in collections of his recorded sayings such as Wikiquote.
"You may not be her first, her last, or her only", another long relationship text, has the same problem.
"You say you love rain, but you use an umbrella to walk under it" is an anonymous poem, often also credited to Shakespeare, with no link to Marley.
"Love the life you live, live the life you love", "The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires", "Who are you to judge the life I live?", "The winds that sometimes take something we love", "The biggest coward of a man is to awaken the love of a woman", "You can't find the right roads when the streets are paved" and "The day you stop racing is the day you win the race" all lack any known source tying them to him.

Several other lines that circulate with his name, such as "Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life", "Overcome the devil with a thing called love" and "Though the road's been rocky, it sure feels good to me", sound like Marley and may come from lesser-known recordings, but we could not match them to a specific song, so treat them as unconfirmed.

Why so many quotes get pinned on him

Marley's image, the smile, the dreadlocks, the message of peace and love, makes him an easy face for any upbeat saying. Quote pictures travel fast on social media, and a well-known name makes a line more shareable. Over time, anonymous love poems, self-help maxims and lines from other artists become "Bob Marley quotes" simply through repetition.

The fix is simple: if a line is a lyric, you should be able to name the song. If it is from an interview, there should be a date and publication. A short Marley lyric almost always sounds like Jamaican English and fits a melody; long, polished paragraphs of relationship advice almost never do.

The message that runs through his songs

Read together, the real lines show what Marley cared about: mental and spiritual freedom ("Redemption Song"), standing up to injustice ("Get Up, Stand Up"), steadiness in hard times ("Three Little Birds", "No Woman, No Cry") and unity ("One Love"). His songs were rooted in Trenchtown poverty and Rastafarian faith, yet were written to be sung by anyone. More than four decades after his death, that is exactly what still happens, which makes his own prediction about his music going on forever look rather accurate.

Sources: Wikipedia: Bob Marley; Wikiquote: Bob Marley; Quote Investigator: "Some people feel the rain, others just get wet".

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