Never underestimate the power of being popular in pop culture. You have to be able to do something. You can have a good seat at the restaurant, but you still have to pay for the meal. Fame is important, but to be rich is more important.
— Gene Simmons
I am an entrepreneur in the classic mold. No matter what I do - outside of sticking my tongue out - I tend to make money, and quite a bit in non-KISS stuff.
When you are a rock star in front of 20,000 people, you receive instant gratification. A rock star on tour is a king in his domain.
The only jobs kids have are to do well in school, to be charming and polite, and be thankful. That's it. I'll house you, protect you, I'll even give my life for you, and in return, you will behave.
The Beatles weren't like any other band. Everybody in the band sang, which is why you knew everybody in the band.
Everyone in Kiss is replaceable. My ego will tell you that I am not, but that's not so.
Personally I support 14,000 kids in Zambia - I feed and clothe them - but I don't hold press conferences about it. I don't do it so you'll think what a nice person I am; it's private.
In theater, you're playing characters. You believe you're somebody else, and you're acting.
I would urge all bands that say they only care about credibility and don't care about money to send Gene Simmons every dollar that they don't want. I'd be happy to take it off them.
I fail all of the time. It means nothing.
Nobody does just one thing. But the real difference between being an entrepreneur and everyone else in the world is the ability to monetize. I am an entrepreneur in the classic mold.
I worship scones and danishes. If I never had another meal, I wouldn't care as long as I could eat pastries and jelly doughnuts.
Live and think like a poor man and you'll always be OK.
People who are the salt of the earth get up and go to a job that they hate.
If someone likes you, they'll buy what you're selling, whether or not they need it.
You can't go through life and leave things the way they are. We can all make a difference, and if I die today, I know I made a difference.
I voted for President Bush, I voted for President Clinton, and, although I do want my vote back, I voted for President Obama.
I have to have an emotional connection to what I am ultimately selling because it is emotion, whether you are selling religion, politics, even a breath mint.
I don't sleep all that much, but when I do, it's sound.
I think it's pathetic that women and men treat each other worse than we treat our pets. It's love or hate.
Never negotiate with kids. They don't have life experience, and they don't have repercussions for bad decisions; they still get fed and housed.
I like to approach every day like it's the only day I will ever have.
Kiss is not a charity. Never, ever mix commerce and charity.
I'm from Israel, so America has no limits. I started a record label, and then I started managing other artists, like Liza Minelli.
If you win a race, you don't ask how you did it, as long as you do it.
Don't believe bands who say it's all about the fans and they want to give their music away for free. The result is they will continue to live in their mother's basement.
I fly economy. I do often fly first class, but I don't travel with a posse, or bodyguard, or an assistant.
I'm fascinated with myself and love hearing the sound of my own voice. I'd like to hear what I have to say. A lot of people don't like being alone because they truly don't like themselves, but I love me.
Sugar-free ice pops are an invention of God. They hardly have any calories since they're mostly water. I eat about 15 pops every two days.
The biggest financial pitfall in life is divorce. And the biggest reason for divorce is marriage.
I crave ideas, and when an idea hits me, it grips me and it tortures me until I master it.
I don't wait for the calendar to figure out when I should live life.
It's in the history books, the Holocaust. It's just a phrase. And the truth is it happened yesterday. It happened to my mother. I never met my grandmothers or my grandfathers. They were all wiped up in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.
Well, I'm like most Americans, we don't vote by party, we both by the person because a person is bigger than the party, which is why sometimes the Democrats get in and sometimes the Republicans get in.
I do often fly first class, but I don't travel with a posse, or bodyguard, or an assistant.
To be in a band on the road is to have anything and everything you want just by picking up the phone.
If you're the greatest, it's okay to say you're the greatest. My suggestion to everybody is to be their own greatest fan. Weaker personas and personalities define that as egotistical or arrogant, but what it means is their self-esteem isn't that strong.
Music is feeling. You can try to verbalize it. It really just hits you or it doesn't.
I don't wanna go on vacation. There's nothing about it that appeals to me. People look forward to doing that; I look forward to getting up every day and doing something.
I work for everything I've got. I started off as a very poor kid. I want to get paid.
If you think about it, critics are an unnecessary life-form on the planet Earth, and here's why: because it's a job without credentials. You don't have to go to school.
Before a show, you might have aches or pains, or it's a bad rainy day, or it's too humid. We all complain about stuff. But... how do I put this poetically? Once it's the roar of the crowd and the smell of the greasepaint, forget it. Once the adrenaline kicks in and your chest expands, you forget about all that.
The best you can do is set your kids on the right track; staying on it without falling is up to the kids.
If you look at the CEOs of some the most successful companies in the world like IKEA, they never fly first class. They always go economy.
I know that you like to see a man in the kitchen, but I'm skeptical of men who cook. A man should be focusing his attention on the woman, and not what's on the stove.
England is a profoundly bizarre place that has produced thousands of bands the world has worshipped.
I've always been anti-marriage for men until they become mature. As a species we don't mature until we're in our 60s.
I also learned that I love making money. Anyone who is not afraid of work will be happy with the money they make.
There is nothing that I would do ever to break my mother's heart.
Fiscally, I'm very conservative. I don't believe in welfare states. I believe in giving people jobs.
