20 Quotes About Murder From Some Of The World’s Coldest Killers

Published December 14, 2018
Updated August 30, 2019

These 20 serial killers let us know why they killed — but we'll never know just how to unread what they said.

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It's difficult to imagine what goes through a serial killer's mind, but every one of us has tried. We've all looked at the monsters and wondered what it feels like to be depraved, or what it feels like to kill. These quotes about murder, from the most gruesome serial killers, reveal just exactly why they did it and how it felt to kill. The challenge, after you read their words, is how to forget what you've read.

Most of us feel the pain we inflict on others. But for many serial killers, that empathy doesn't exist. According to Dr. Helen Morrison, an expert on the minds of killers, "They have no appreciation for the absolute agony and terror and fear that the victim is demonstrating. They just see the object in front of them."

"It's all power and control," says Paul Bernardo, the serial killer who terrorized Scarborough, Canada, in the early 1990s.

Paul Bernardo in his 2007 interview with police, attempting to manipulate investigators.

Ted Bundy, one of America's most notorious serial killers, seemed to agree, as he once boasted about the feeling of omnipotence killing gave him: "You feel that last bit of breath leaving the body. You're looking into their eyes. A person in that situation is God!"

Killers like this will also often receive a sexual thrill from the act of murder. Some take home mementos so that they can preserve that rush for as long as possible, like Danny Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper who sliced off a victims' nipples to keep as trophies.

Serial killer Edmund Kemper described his titillation with this quote about murder, telling investigators, "I remember there was actually a sexual thrill. You hear that little pop and pull their heads off and hold their heads up by the hair. Whipping their heads off, their body sitting there. That'd get me off."

Ed Kemper's quotes about murder immortalized in this disturbing discussion.

We hope that the mind of a serial killer truly is different than our own, especially after reading these horrific quotes about murder. But that hope is exactly the terrifying thought that keeps us so fascinated with them: the notion that we might not be so far apart.

Richard Ramirez certainly believed so. "We've all got the power in our hands to kill," he insisted, "but most people are afraid to use it."

It's terrifying to consider, which these quotes about murder show, that the only thing separating us from the Night Stalkers and the Sons of Sam of our world is a little push.


After this harrowing look at quotes about murder, read these 21 chilling serial killer quotes or the last words of convicted killers. Then, learn about the most famous murders in history.

author
Mark Oliver
author
Mark Oliver is a writer and teacher, and father whose work has appeared on The Onion's StarWipe, Yahoo, and Cracked.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.