• "People have the right to ask questions and dig deep when you're hurting people and things around you, but when I haven't talked to anyone in years, and every single article I see is dope this, junkie that, whiskey this- that ain't my title...my bad habits aren't my title. My strengths and talents are my title."
• "I found out through the Internet that I have AIDS. I learned that I was dead. Where else would I find these things? I don't see a doctor regularly. I was in San Francisco at Lollapalooza, and this girl walked up to me and stopped like she had seen a ghost. And she said "You're not dead." and I said, "No, you're right." Wow."
  
• "We try to be real nice and friendly to people, but sometimes they take advantage of that."
• "Nobody ever asks Meat Loaf, 'What do you eat? Why do you eat so much? Shouldn't you lose some weight?' No, he shouldn't. He's fucking Meat Loaf. He writes songs, and he has a great time, and none of your fuckin' business. Maybe he eats meatloaf every fucking night, you know?"
• "Who the fuck is Alice?"
• "We're Alice in Chains and this is my broke foot...thank God it ain't a broke dick"
• "I'm not into religion, but I have a good grasp on my spirituality. I just believe that I'm not the greatest power on this earth. I didnt create myself, because I would have done a hell of a better job."
• "When somebody starts asking me if I'm an addict of how messed up I am or just stupid and stuff like that, it's like man do you have a brain at all? Aside from a brain, do you have any feelings at all? What if I started asking these questions? This is really personal stuff!"
• "When I tried drugs they were fucking great, and they worked for me for years, and now they're turning against me- and now I'm walking through hell and this sucks. I didn't want my fans to think heroin was cool. But then I've had fans come up to me and give me the thumbs up, telling me they're high. That's exactly what I didn't want to happen."
• "I see a lot of you are dressed up like some of the members of Kiss, but none of you are dressed up like me. What's up with that?" (opening for Kiss in 1995)

  ---

  
  Layne Staley's Poem:

Core

Self-imprisonment
I suppose somewhere inside me
I yearn for freedom from
That which holds me stagnant
Over exaggeration turns underestimated
Emotion...
Emotion. Why the urgency to hide and
Slow the flow of that, which could,
And perhaps will, improve, and
Heal the burning inside?
I am protecting my pain
It is mine
And I so badly want to keep my
Pain to myself
But, in doing so I am hurting
So many who cross me, or care for me,
Aching for love and acceptance,
Only to throw you down in the latter
Of our shared love
Yet anger and guilt not shared
Between me and you
You are blamed for all that is a
Mystery within myself...burning
Oh, I pray that I might someday
Throw a blanket over that angry
Child
If the strength is found within the
Core of my being
His tears soak my heart and
Weight it down
I am drowning, and I am tired,
And so very, very lonely
I am.