Quote Of The Day By Freddie Mercury: 'The Most Important Thing Is To Live A Fabulous Life. As Long As It's ...'

Few musicians are so larger-than-life, so mythical in presence and public memory, than Freddie Mercury. There's a good case to be made that Queen's lead singer and pianist is the greatest musical frontperson of all time, even if we had nothing more than 1985's Live Aid concert as evidence. Such a life was no accident, as Mercury always kept this express desire in mind.

Born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946, in Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania, Mercury's musical inclinations were clear from a young age. He took piano lessons at the behest of his mother and formed his first band at the young age of 12, the Hectics. After he and his mother moved to Middlesex, England, when Mercury was a teen, he eventually enrolled in art school and got deeper into his local music scene. That's when he met future Queen guitarist and drummer, Brian May and Roger Taylor, respectively, and formed a band with them, Smile. With the addition of bassist John Deacon in 1971, Queen was made whole. 

It took another two years for Queen to release their 1973 self-titled debut. While it doesn't contain any big hits we all know and love, it did put Queen on the right track to realizing their musical potential with 1975's "A Night at the Opera." But even before then, Mercury knew the kind of fabulous life he wanted to lead, as he himself put it, and remained honest about both its benefits and pitfalls. That's why he gets our quote of the day.

"The most important thing is to live a fabulous life. As long as it's fabulous, I don't care how long it is."

That very prescient quote reportedly comes from Mick Rock, who shared it on X, and it has made the rounds online. Rock, who worked as Queen's photographer from 1973 to '75, included a picture of Freddie Mercury from 1974 with his post, complete with what looks like satin bedsheets and sporting what might be a come-hither look. At the time of Mercury's quote, none of the band's highest-charting songs had likely seen the light of day, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are the Champions," yet even then, Mercury had a clear vision for his life. 

He was honest with himself, and by all accounts had already accepted whatever fate his life wrought. No matter the path that any of us take, even one far less "fabulous" than Mercury's, we can still learn from such an outlook.

On the surface, we could interpret Mercury's quote as being equivalent to the overused maxim, "Go big or go home." Certainly, there was an element of this kind of attitude in his lifestyle, right down to Mercury's outrageous parties. Such parties took place during Mercury's '70s hedonistic peak, when he wrote "Don't Stop Me Now" for 1978's "Jazz" ahead of the '80s AIDS epidemic. We should be careful not to solely associate Mercury's desired life with a thoughtless one, however. His fabulous lifestyle was about far more than that.

Indeed, Mercury's quote has less to do with revelry or joie de vivre and everything to do with self-awareness. Mercury knew the kind of life he wanted from the get-go, went for it, got it, and was satisfied with it no matter the outcome. He depicted this outlook through his lyrics and stage presence, and died according to the principles by which he lived. His only requirement was that he lived the way he wanted, which he certainly did.

In hindsight, Freddie Mercury's quote about not caring how long he lived, so long as he lived a fabulous life, might seem eerie. After all, he died young at the age of 45 on November 24, 1991, from AIDS-related complications less than a month after Mercury's last public appearance in February that year. But rather than being merely tragic, Mercury's quote teaches us about honesty and accountability.

• "It's ... so boring to be seventy."

• "I have lived a full life, and if I'm dead tomorrow, I don't give a damn."

• "I hope they realize that after I'm dead that um, I created something, or I was, I made something, I don't give a s*** if they forget me to be honest, I really don't, because life is for living."

• "Hell is much better [than heaven]. Look at the interesting people that you're going to meet down there."

• "I'm a man of extremes, you know? I change from day to day, like a chameleon. Each day is very different to me. I look forward to that. I don't want to be the same person every day."

• "I'm not a very good partner for anybody and I just think maybe that's what my love is. I think my love is dangerous. Who wants their love to be safe?"