Daron Malakian quotes:

I'm not very happy. I'm frustrated with human beings. I'm the guy who just wants to smack people in the face and say, 'Wake up!'

In Glendale, where I live, there's a street called Broadway. The bottoms of the light posts have swastikas on them.

In the Middle East in the summertime, to keep cool, a lot of people sleep on the rooftops.

I would never cancel a tour unless I had real reasons and personal things that require my undivided attention.

Music is an emotion, and I put it out there.

I like structuring verses, choruses, but sometimes the verses might be a tango and the choruses might be death metal.

Superman told me... that we needed to make a double... type of record... and so I answered: 'Okay, Superman. We will make... a double type of record but it won't be a double album because... Batman... didn't want a double album'

Politicians use religion, and they get their troops riled up with religion.

There's no rule that says you have to make records constantly, like clockwork, to continue being who you are.

How does a band like System of a Down get big?

If I was money-motivated, I wouldn't have joined a rock band with three other Armenian guys.

I am depressed sometimes, but it's not what keeps me at home or focused on work.

I'll always be a member of System of a Down. That will never change.

As a musician, I don't think I'm the greatest guitar player. I'm a bigger fan of the drums than I am the guitar; I just happen to play guitar. I play drums almost every day at my house. I wrote a lot of songs behind the drum kit, just having the music and vocals in my head and playing the rhythm.

People's attention spans don't run too long these days.

I guess you'd say I'm a gearhead. It's not just guitars; I have five or six drum sets, a bunch of keyboards... It's like Guitar Center exploded, and all the cool stuff dropped in my backyard. I'm a really lucky guy, I have to admit.

Back in the day, when the emperor or the king or whatever waged war, they went to war, too. But that's been lost in time.

You can't just release double albums and expect people to sit there and devote their time to it.

Every song I've written is luck, I think; it's luck - 'How did that just happen?'

System of a Down is the music that I wanted to buy but couldn't find at the store. It's the band I wanted to be a fan of.

I don't get it when people complain that baseball games are too long.

I just think religion is something... It could be a beautiful thing for the individual, but when it becomes organized, that's when religion starts taking a kind of ugly turn to me.

You know, even U2 took a little time off, and then they came back with a new sound.

I like to watch retarded people have sex, am I alone?

Masturbation is good for the right arm.

But love is just as important as politics to me. They both exist in the world, you know? And if you dont reflect the entire world around you, then youre leaving something out.

It's important not to take yourself too seriously, ... and I think sometimes people take us a lot more seriously than we take ourselves, especially when it comes to politics. Politics, for me, is a reflection of the world I live in. But love is just as important as politics to me. They both exist in the world, you know? And if you don't reflect the entire world around you, then you're leaving something out.

Masturbation is great for the right arm

Why don't presidents fight the war? - Why do they always send the poor?

Other kids would take their parents to the toy store and I'd take my mom to the record store.

Does it bother me that some people are burning their own System CDs and taking money out of my pocket? Not really. This has always been about putting the best possible version of the song in the fans hands. It was like selling an artist's painting before he had finished it.

I would expect another Scars album before another System album.