Sons of Anarchy has been off the air for about four years, but the wisdom of Jax Teller continues to be a source of inspiration for fans.
Played by Charlie Hunnam, fans watched Jax go from being the vice president of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club’s Redwood Original (SAMCRO) mother charter to eventually being the head of the club.
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While his life was arguably destined for tragedy from the very beginning, the wise nature of Jax made him an “old soul” who inspired fans all over the world.
Below is a list of some of the best Jax Teller quotes of all-time. Scroll down to read them and let us know in the comments which one is your favorite!
“Find your own truth”
From: “Straw” โ Seasonย 6, Episodeย 1
“I feel like my life has taken a turn. I’m heading down a road I’ve never been on before. Nothing is familiar. The signs don’t make sense. Do I get off the road, or do I keep riding? The people that I see aren’t the people i know. Do I go alone or take others with me? Who do I trust and who do I not? I now understand why being a leader requires isolation.
“I have to remove myself from those whose lives were affected by my decisions. Those I love as well as those I hate. It’s getting more and more difficult to be a brother when my decisions are the ones a father has to make. I now realize that every time I make a decision effects everyone around me. By the time you’re old enough to make sense of this life, to make sense of me, you’ll know everything.
“The things I’m proud of and the things I regret โ and then you’ll be faced with your own decisions. And just know that the decisions that you make effect everyone and everything. It has taken me along time to realize that, and I wish I would have sooner. And as much as I want to help you, tell you what to do. I can’t. Those choices will be yours, and yours alone. The only advice I can give you, sons, is to examine who you are as people and what you choose as your path in your life.
“Figure out what’s important to you. Know yourselves … Know what’s in your heart … and know whats right. Don’t be swayed by fear or history or the opinions of outsiders. Find your own truth. It will lead you to the things you love.”
“I left part of me in that box”
From: “Orcaย Shrugged” โ Seasonย 5, Episodeย 5
“It’s hard not to hate. People, things, institutions, when they break your spirit and take pleasure in watching you bleed, hate is the only feeling that makes sense. But I know what hate does to a man, tears him apart, turn him into something he’s not, something he promised himself that he’d never become.
“That’s what I need to tell you to let you know how hard I am trying not to cave under the weight of all the awful things I feel in my heart. Sometimes my life feels like a deadly balancing act, when I feel slamming up against what I should do, impulsive reactions racing to solutions miles ahead of my brain.
“When I look at my day, I realize that most of it was spent cleaning up the damage of the day before. In that life I don’t have a future, all I have is distraction and remorse. I buried my best friend three days ago. As cliche as this sounds I left part of me in that box. A part I barely knew, a part I never saw again. Everyday is a new box boys, you open it and take a look at what’s inside. You’re the one who determine if it’s a gift or a coffin.”
“I’m the scumbag outlaw”
From: “John 8:32” โ Season 6, Episodeย 9
“You can slap my wrists until they’re bloody, lady. I don’t give a sโ. I’m giving you a win well above your pay grade. You get your devil and you punch your ticket out of this cesspool.
“So let’s not get too lost in righteousness. I’m the scumbag outlaw, and you’re the pillar of justice. And neither one of us likes looking at ourselves in the mirror. Do we have a deal?”
“I will make you proud”
From: “Darthy” โ Season Five, Episode 12
“There will be days when you’re forced to make decisions that affect the lives of everyone you love, choices that will change you forever. You reach an age where you realize that being a man isn’t about respect or strength, it’s about being aware of all the things you touch.
“Children face inward, wallow in their own selfish needs. Men face out, take action on the needs of others. I’m at that place boys. I’m staring one of those decisions in the face and it looks back at me with historical eyes and it calls me a coward, a killer, a fraud.
“It wants me to crack and run from the service of my fate like a broken boy. Today, I will not do that. Today, I will be the man my father tried to be. I will make you proud.”
“Decades of experience”
From: “Eureka” โ Season 2, Episodeย 4
“Well, you got decades of experience. Why don’t you tell me how I do that? How I get right with you tryin’ to kill a brother behind the club’s back and your little trigger boy blowin’ an innocent woman’s head off?”
“… the things that try to kill you make you angry”
From: “Sovereign” โย Seasonย 5, Episodeย 1
“Something happens at around 92 miles an hour โ thunder-headers drown out all sound, engine vibrations travels at a heart’s rate, field of vision funnels into the immediate and suddenly you’re not on the road, you’re in it. A part of it. Traffic, scenery, cops โ just cardboard cutouts blowing over as you pass.
“Sometimes I forget the rush of that. That’s why I love these long runs. All your problems, all the noise, gone. Nothing else to worry about except what’s right in front of you. Maybe that’s the lesson for me today, to hold on to these simple moments. Appreciate them a little more โ there’s not many of them left.
“I don’t ever want that for you. Finding things that make you happy shouldn’t be so hard. I know you’ll face pain, suffering, hard choices, but you can’t let the weight of it choke the joy out of your life. No matter what, you have to find the things that love you. Run to them. There’s an old saying, ‘That which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger’ I don’t believe that.
“I think the things that try to kill you make you angry and sad. Strength comes from the good thingsย โ your family, your friends, the satisfaction of hard work. Those are the things that’ll keep you whole. Those are the things to hold on to when you’re broken.”
“I think that scares me more”
From: “Hell Followed” โ Season 1, Episodeย 9
“I’ve been waking up every day since he was born with a sick feeling. Wondering who was gonna die today. And it scares the sโ out of me. And then I woke up this morning, and it was gone. I think that scares me more.”
“I got tired of the endless disconnect”
From: “The Revelator” โ Season 1, Episode 13
“You wanna know how many women I’ve slept with over the last 10 years?ย โฆ Hundreds! Maybe more, I don’t know. I barely see their faces. I married Wendy because I was lonely.
“Because I got tired of the endless disconnect. It was just a sad timeout. Because when I’m inside someone, there’s only one face I see. When you came home, it was like some kind of sign to me.
“Like my past coming around to give me another shot to do this different; better. And now that chance is running back to Chicago.”