"If you're going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy"
About this Quote
The specific intent is recruitment-by-aesthetic. Manson understood that devotion is often won less through argument than through atmosphere. “Witchy” signals transgression without having to name it; it suggests secret knowledge, ritual, and a loosened moral ledger. That ambiguity is useful. It lets followers project whatever they want onto the act - art, rebellion, destiny - while he keeps authorship over the vibe.
Subtextually, it’s a lesson in branding. Leave a residue. Create a signature. For someone orchestrating violence and manipulation, “witchy” reads as a strategy of psychological warfare: confuse the public, spook the authorities, mythologize the perpetrators, turn crime into omen. The phrase anticipates how spectacle travels - how a scene curated for fear and symbolism can outlive facts, and how narrative can become a weapon.
Context matters: late-60s counterculture had already flirted with the occult as fashion and as anti-establishment shorthand. Manson hijacked that language, mixing pseudo-spiritual charisma with coercion. The result is a sentence that exposes his core trick: laundering brutality through style so it feels like fate.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work Ethic |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: Killer Quotes (Hadness Fontenot, 2015) modern compilationISBN: 9783739619385 · ID: CqrRCgAAQBAJ
Evidence: Quotes from Serial Killers Hadness Fontenot. Charles Manson Charles Manson " I've killed no one . I've ordered ... If you're going to do something , do it well , and leave something witchy " " Total paranoia is just total awareness ... Other candidates (1) Charles Manson (Charles Manson) compilation76.9% e sawyer 1994 if you are gonna do something do it well and leave something witchy int |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Manson, Charles. (2026, January 14). If you're going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-youre-going-to-do-something-do-it-well-and-46635/
Chicago Style
Manson, Charles. "If you're going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." FixQuotes. January 14, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-youre-going-to-do-something-do-it-well-and-46635/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you're going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." FixQuotes, 14 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-youre-going-to-do-something-do-it-well-and-46635/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.












