Get yourself inspired by reading this definitive collection of 228 Bob Marley quotes about love, life, women, money, God, relationships, friends, peace, and more! Marley used his music to acknowledge the problems in his home country of Jamaica. He also used his musical platform to share his views on social justice, happiness, politics, race, financial empowerment, culture, peace, love, and change.
So who was Bob Marley? He was a Jamaican reggae singer, musician, guitarist, and songwriter and is considered one of the pioneers of reggae. With his band The Wailers, Bob Marley achieved international fame and acclaim. After The Wailers disbanded in 1974, Marley pursued a solo career that produced his status as one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time.
Marley’s most well-known songs include Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, Get Up Stand Up, Could You Be Loved, Is This Love, I Shot The Sheriff, Three Little Birds, One Love, Redemption Song, and of course No Woman No Cry.
Interesting fact: On 3 December 1976, armed gunmen stormed Marley’s home in an assassination attempt that saw him shot in the chest and arm. Four others were also shot but amazingly, there were no fatalities. Bob Marley’s life was tragically cut short at 36 from cancer. His final words were “Money can’t buy life”.
Some of these Bob Marley quotes are from his song lyrics and others were his spoken wisdom. Yet all embody his strong life views. I hope you enjoy them.
218 Inspirational Bob Marley Quotes
Bob Marley Quotes About Life
- “Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.” – Bob Marley
- “Beginnings are usually scary, and endings are usually sad, but its everything in between that makes it all worth living.” – Bob Marley
- “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” – Bob Marley
- “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.” – Bob Marley
- “Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.” – Bob Marley
- “Live for yourself and you will live in vain. Live for others, and you will live again.” – Bob Marley
- “If something can corrupt you, you’re corrupted already.” – Bob Marley
- “Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.” – Bob Marley
- “Who are you to judge the life I live? I am not perfect and I don’t have to be! Before you start pointing fingers, make sure your hands are clean.” – Bob Marley
- “My feet is my only carriage.” – Bob Marley
- “Money can’t buy life.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t jump in the water if you can’t swim.” – Bob Marley
- “They will always tell you that you can’t do what you want to do, but you can do what you want to do. You just have to believe in yourself. The system is to bring you down, but you can rise up.” – Bob Marley
- “Forget your troubles and dance.” – Bob Marley
- “Me only have one ambition, y’know. I only have one thing I really like to see happen. I like to see mankind live together – black, white, Chinese, everyone – that’s all.” – Bob Marley
- “The good times of today are the sad thoughts of tomorrow.” – Bob Marley
- “The day you stop racing is the day you win the race.” – Bob Marley
- “Judge not before you judge yourself. Judge not, if you’re not ready for judgment.” – Bob Marley
- “You have to be someone.” – Bob Marley
- “And no matter what game they play, we got something they can never take away.” – Bob Marley
- “They say: only the fittest of the fittest shall survive, stay alive.” – Bob Marley
- “It takes a revolution to make a solution.” – Bob Marley
- “Why not help each other on the way? Make it much easier.” – Bob Marley
- “You can’t run away from yourself.” – Bob Marley
- “Me is a common sense man. That mean when me explain things, me explain it in a very simple way; that mean if I explain it to a baby, the baby will understand too, you know.” – Bob Marley
- “I know I’m not perfect and I don’t live to be.” – Bob Marley
- “I went deep inside myself. I had time to explore my beliefs and because of that I’m stronger.” – Bob Marley
- “All I have is my life.” – Bob Marley
- “You think it’s the end, but it’s just the beginning.” – Bob Marley
- “The lips of the righteous teach many, but fools die for want of wisdom.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright.” – Bob Marley
- “We got to realize we are one people.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t let them fool ya, or even try to school ya.” – Bob Marley
- “He who hide the wrong he did, surely did the wrong thing still.” – Bob Marley
- “Musicians must be spokespeople for the oppressed masses.” – Bob Marley
- “Man is a universe within himself.” – Bob Marley
- “It takes a joyful sound to make the world go round.” – Bob Marley
- “Truth is everybody is going to hurt you, you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t trust people whose feelings change with time. Trust people whose feelings remain the same, even when the time changes.” – Bob Marley
- “Oh, brothers, you should know and not believe.” – Bob Marley
- “Everything in life got its purpose, find its reason in every season.” – Bob Marley
- “We’re more than numbers.” – Bob Marley
- “Every man got a right to decide his own destiny.” – Bob Marley
- “When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.” – Bob Marley
- “They don’t want us to unite. All they want us to do is keep on fussing and fighting.” – Bob Marley
- “Who the cap fit, let them wear it!” – Bob Marley
- “Some will hate you pretend they love you now then behind they try to eliminate you.” – Bob Marley
- “Today, people struggle to find what’s real. Everything has become so synthetic that a lot of people, all they want is to grasp onto hope.” – Bob Marley
- “That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, Dis a war.” – Bob Marley
- “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” – Bob Marley
- “I have no education, I have inspiration. If I was educated, I would be a damn fool.” – Bob Marley
- “Put your vision to reality.” – Bob Marley
- “You just can’t live that negative way. You know what I mean. Make way for the positive day. Cause it’s a new day.” – Bob Marley
- “Reggae is my heart. Reggae is my soul.” – Bob Marley
- “When the root is strong, the fruit is sweet.” – Bob Marley
- “Until the color of a man’s skin, is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes, me say war.” – Bob Marley
- “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” – Bob Marley
- “Yeah me see myself as a revolutionary, would wouldn’t want no help and imma take no bribe from no one and fight it single handed with music.” – Bob Marley
- “When you smoke you don’t want to war.” – Bob Marley
- “The biggest man was a baby one time.” – Bob Marley
- “None but ourselves can free our minds.” – Bob Marley
- “Well, what we know is not what they tell us. We’re not ignorant, I mean it, and they just cannot touch us through the powers of the Most-High. We keep on surfacin’ thru the powers of the Most-High. We keep on survivin’.” – Bob Marley
- “You say dabble in Politics? I don’t know what that is. You say stand up and talk for my rights? I know that that is.” – Bob Marley
- “I don’t believe in death, neither in flesh nor in spirit.” – Bob Marley
- “Hey, lively up yourself.” – Bob Marley
- “Life and Jah are one in the same. Jah is the gift of existence. I am in some way eternal, I will never be duplicated. The singularity of every man and woman is Jah’s gift. What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah. The process of what that struggle becomes, in time, the Truth.” – Bob Marley
- “In the abundance of water, a fool is thirsty.” – Bob Marley
- “One lifetime is not enough to live.” – Bob Marley
- “It take many a year, mon, and maybe some bloodshed must be, but righteousness someday prevail.” – Bob Marley
- “You just can’t live in that negative way. Make way for the positive day.” – Bob Marley
- “You have to be someone.” – Bob Marley
- “Rise up this mornin’, smile with the risin’ sun.” – Bob Marley
- “Truth is the light so you never give up the fight.” – Bob Marley
- “My heart says follow through.” – Bob Marley
- “We like to be free like birds in a tree.” – Bob Marley
- “Long time you fight revolution and when you fight revolution you use guns. You don’t really want talk about revolution until you have guns, right? So me don’t want ever to talk ‘bout revolution because me no never get gun. Me make music. Music is the biggest gun.” – Bob Marley
- “In this great future, you can’t forget your past.” – Bob Marley
- “Bob Marley isn’t my name. I don’t even know my name yet.” – Bob Marley
- “All dese governments and dis this and that, these people that say they’re here to help, why them say you cannot smoke the herb? Herb… herb is a plant, you know? And when me check it, me can’t find no reason.” “All them say is, ‘it make you rebel’. Against what?” – Bob Marley
- “Though the road’s been rocky it sure feels good to me.” – Bob Marley
- “As a man sow, shall he reap, and I know that talk is cheap.” – Bob Marley
- “Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.” – Bob Marley
- “The biggest coward of a man is to awaken the love of a woman without the intention of loving her.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t complicate your mind.” – Bob Marley
- “And what has been hidden from the wise and the prudent has been revealed in the mouth of the toddlers.” – Bob Marley
- “He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break.” – Bob Marley
- “Every man got the right to decide his own destiny.” – Bob Marley
- “They don’t want to see us live together; all they want us to do is keep on killing one another.” – Bob Marley
- “Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?” – Bob Marley
- “Keep calm and chive on.” – Bob Marley
- “Wake up and live.” – Bob Marley
- “Two thousand years of history Black History could not be wiped away so easily.” – Bob Marley
- “I wish I was the music that rock your soul.” – Bob Marley
- “We know where we’re going; we know where we’re from.” – Bob Marley
- “Until the end of the world, all whys will be answered, but now, you can only ask!” – Bob Marley
- “It is better to live on the house top than to live in a house full of confusion.” – Bob Marley
- “Live if you want to live.” – Bob Marley
- “Tell the children the truth.” – Bob Marley
- “If you get down and quarrel everyday, you’re saying prayers to the devil, I say.” – Bob Marley
- “As a man sow, shall he reap. and I know that talk is cheap. But the heat of the battle is as sweet as the victory.” – Bob Marley
- “A hungry mob is an angry mob.” – Bob Marley
- “Everyone you see has a heart desire.” – Bob Marley
- “If puss and dog can get together, why can’t we love one another?” – Bob Marley
- “If I am guilty I will pay.” – Bob Marley
- “Light up the darkness.” – Bob Marley
- “You not supposed to feel down over whatever happen to you. I mean, you’re supposed to use whatever happen to you as some type of upper, not a downer.” – Bob Marley
- “Though the road’s been rocky, it sure feels good to me.” – Bob Marley
- “The power of philosophy floats through my head. Light like a feather, heavy as lead.” – Bob Marley
- “Live to fight another day.” – Bob Marley
- “Babylon is everywhere. You have wrong and you have right. Wrong is what we call Babylon, wrong things. That is what Babylon is to me. I could have born in England, I could have born in America, it make no difference where me born, because there is Babylon everywhere.” – Bob Marley
- “I don’t know how to live good. I only know how to suffer.” – Bob Marley
- “I was really into like, they call it spiritual music. Cause it got me revolutionized.” – Bob Marley
- “The harder the battle the sweet of Jah victory.” – Bob Marley
- “I’ve been here before and will come again, but I’m not going this trip through.” – Bob Marley
- “Heal with loneliness, heartaches and teardrops.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t forget your history nor your destiny.” – Bob Marley
- “Where did it all begin? Where will it end?” – Bob Marley
- “Rastafari not a culture, it’s a reality.” – Bob Marley
- “Road of life is rocky and you may stumble too, so while you talk about me, someone else is judging you.” – Bob Marley
- “The most beautiful things are not perfect, they are special.” – Bob Marley
- “And don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.” – Bob Marley
- “Once a man and twice a child.” – Bob Marley
- “Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t treat me like a puppet on a string.” – Bob Marley
- “Hey mister music, sure sounds good to me I can’t refuse it what to be got to be.” – Bob Marley
- “If you get down and you quarrel everyday, you’re saying praises to the devil, I say.” – Bob Marley
- “I know that I’m not perfect and that I don’t claim to be, so before you point your fingers make sure your hands are clean.” – Bob Marley
- “Smelling the air when spring comes by raindrops reminds us of youthful days.” – Bob Marley
- “Rise up, fallen fighters. Rise and take your stance again.” – Bob Marley
- “Everything is political. I will never be a politician or even think political. Me just deal with life and nature. That is the greatest thing to me.” – Bob Marley
- “The stone that the builder refused shall be the head corner stone.” – Bob Marley
- “Now you get what you want, do you want more?” – Bob Marley
- “Alcohol make you drunk, man. It don’t make you meditate, it just make you drunk. Herb is more a consciousness.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze.” – Bob Marley
- “Have no fear for atomic energy, ’cause none of them can stop the time.” – Bob Marley
- “Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen.” – Bob Marley
- “I’ve been here before and will come again, but I’m not going this trip through.” – Bob Marley
- “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.” – Bob Marley
- “Man, you got to do your best.” – Bob Marley
- “It’s your own conscience that is gonna remind you that it’s your heart and nobody else’s that is gonna judge.” – Bob Marley
- “Oh, please don’t you rock my boat, ’cause I don’t want my boat to be rockin’.” – Bob Marley
- “I rule my destiny.” – Bob Marley
- “The devil ain’t got no power over me. The devil come, and me shake hands with the devil. Devil have his part to play. Devil’s a good friend, too… because when you don’t know him, that’s the time he can mosh you down. We JAH people can make it work.” – Bob Marley
- “On a hot, sunny day, follow the shadows for rescue.” – Bob Marley
- “Hit me with music now.” – Bob Marley
- “You entertain people who are satisfied. Hungry people can’t be entertained or people who are afraid. You can’t entertain a man who has no food.” – Bob Marley
- “My future is righteousness.” – Bob Marley
- “Prejudice is a chain, it can hold you. If you prejudice, you can’t move, you keep prejudice for years. Never get nowhere with that.” – Bob Marley
- “Reggae music is the purest music.” – Bob Marley
- “People want to listen to a message, word from Jah. This could be passed through me or anybody. I am not a leader. Messenger. The words of the songs, not the person, is what attracts people.” – Bob Marley
- “How many rivers do we have to cross before we can talk to the boss?” – Bob Marley
- “My music fights against the system that teaches to live and die.” – Bob Marley
- “Though the road’s been rocky it sure feels good to me.” – Bob Marley
- “But though we bear our burdens now, all afflictions got to end somehow.” – Bob Marley
- “Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life.” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t let them change ya, or even rearrange ya.” – Bob Marley
- “We Jah people can make it work.” – Bob Marley
- “There’s work to be done.” – Bob Marley
- “Just because you are happy it does not mean that the day is perfect but that you have looked beyond its imperfections.” – Bob Marley
- “Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny.” – Bob Marley
- “When the race gets hard to run. It means you just can’t take the peace.” – Bob Marley
- “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” – Bob Marley
- “Such a natural mystic, blowing through the air.” – Bob Marley
- “So much trouble in the world. All you got to do, give a little.” – Bob Marley
- “You can’t find the right roads when the streets are paved.” – Bob Marley
- “You can fool some people some times but you cant fool all the people all the time.” – Bob Marley
- “Every day the bucket a-go a well, one day the bottom a-go drop out.” – Bob Marley
- “In this bright future you can’t forget your past.” – Bob Marley
- “My music will go on forever. Maybe it’s a fool say that, but when me know facts me can say facts. My music will go on forever.” – Bob Marley
- “Every time I plant a seed, He say kill it before it grow, he say kill it before they grow.” – Bob Marley
- “When one door is closed, don’t you know that many more are open.” – Bob Marley
- “Judge not unless you judge yourself.” – Bob Marley
- “Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake up and live!” – Bob Marley
- “The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?” – Bob Marley
- “Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake up and live!” – Bob Marley
- “Conquer the devils with a little thing called love.” – Bob Marley
Bob Marley Quotes About Love
178. “You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible.” – Bob Marley
179. “One love, one heart, one destiny.” – Bob Marley
180. “One love, one heart.” – Bob Marley
181. “Could you be loved and be loved?” – Bob Marley
182. “Let love come running in.” – Bob Marley
183. “One love, one heart. Let’s get together and feel all right.” – Bob Marley
184. “The winds that sometimes take something we love, are the same that bring us something we learn to love. Therefore we should not cry about something that was taken from us, but, yes, love what we have been given. Because what is really ours is never gone forever.” – Bob Marley
185. “What we need is love, to guide and protect us on.” – Bob Marley
186. “Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around.” – Bob Marley
187. “The beauty of love. The love of beauty. The greener you are, the wiser you will be.” – Bob Marley
188. “You say you love rain, but you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun, but you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind, but when it comes you close your windows. So that’s why I’m scared when you say you love me.” – Bob Marley
189. “Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?” – Bob Marley
190. “Herb is the unification of mankind.” – Bob Marley
191. “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul.” – Bob Marley
192. “They say love is a stream that will find its course.” – Bob Marley
193. “Love, friendship, laughter. Some of the best things in life really are free.” – Bob Marley
194. “There will never be no love at all.” – Bob Marley
195. “Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.” – Bob Marley
196. “In life I know there’s lots of grief, but your love is my relief.” – Bob Marley
197. “What’s wrong with loving one another?” – Bob Marley
198. “Love has come to bloom again.” – Bob Marley
199. “Love would never leave us alone.” – Bob Marley
200. “Got to build our love on one foundation.” – Bob Marley
201. “It’s your love that I’m waiting on.” – Bob Marley
202. “I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love.” – Bob Marley
203. “Oh, so happy we will be sharing the love that is free.” – Bob Marley
204. “Make love and not war! ‘Cause we don’t need no trouble.” – Bob Marley
205. “What important is man should live in righteousness, in natural love for mankind.” – Bob Marley
206. “If you can love the wrong person that much, imagine how much you can love the right one.” – Bob Marley
207. “Overcome the devils with a thing called love.” – Bob Marley
Bob Marley Quotes About Women
208. “You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters?” – Bob Marley
209. “If she’s amazing, she won’t be easy.” – Bob Marley
210. “No woman, no cry.” – Bob Marley
211. “If she’s worth it, you won’t give up. If you give up, you’re not worthy.” – Bob Marley
212. “Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.” – Bob Marley
213; “She may not be the most popular or prettiest but if you love her and she makes you smile, what else matters?” – Bob Marley
Bob Marley Quotes About Money
214. “I wish we were all hippies and did yoga, lived in cottages, smoked weed, accepted everyone for who they are, and listened to wonderful music. I wish money didn’t make us who we are. I just wish we could redo society.” – Bob Marley
215. “Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end.” – Bob Marley
216. “Your life is worth much more than gold.” – Bob Marley
217. “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” – Bob Marley
218. “Ziggy, when you go up bring me up and when you go down don’t let me down. Stephen, Money can’t buy you life.” – Bob Marley
Quotes About God
219. “Some people say great God come from the sky take away everything and make everybody feel high, but if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth.” – Bob Marley
220. “Man can’t do without God. Just like you’re thirsty, you have to drink water. You just can’t go without God.” – Bob Marley
221. “Me don’t dip on nobody’s side. Me don’t dip on the black man’s side, not the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.” – Bob Marley
222. “Most people think great god will come from the skies, take away everything, and make everybody feel high. But if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth.” – Bob Marley
223. “If you’re white and you’re wrong, then you’re wrong; if you’re black and you’re wrong, you’re wrong. People are people. Black, blue, pink, green – God make no rules about color; only society make rules where my people suffer, and that why we must have redemption and redemption now.” – Bob Marley
224. “I don’t stand for black man’s side, I don’t stand for white man’s side, I stand for God’s side.” – Bob Marley
Quotes About Friends
225. “True friends are like stars; you can only recognize them when it’s dark around you.” – Bob Marley
226. “You find strength in knowing that you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end.” – Bob Marley
227. “I’m gonna be your friend in high tide or in low tide.” – Bob Marley
228. “Your worst enemy could be your best friend and your best friend your worst enemy.” – Bob Marley
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