A soul needs a purpose to live and so I concluded that my purpose was to kill everyone besides myself. I felt alive.--Gaara.
— Masashi KishimotoThere's only one thing that can heal the heart... Only one... It's love, Gaara.
— Masashi KishimotoNow there's something I understand a little better. Hate, sadness, even joy. To be able to share it with another person...Naruto Uzumaki from fighting him I learned that. He knew pain like I did and then he taught me that you can change your path. I wish that one day I can be needed by someone. Not as a frightening weapon...But as the sand's Kazekage.
— Masashi KishimotoNaruto: I bet you're dying to know my name!Gaara: I couldn't care less.
— Masashi KishimotoGaara: Can Sasuke come out to Die? Kakashi: Not Now.Gaara:.............Gaara: How 'bout now?
— Masashi KishimotoI think of you as a friend. I used to think 'friend' was just another word... Nothing more, nothing less. But when I met you, I realized what was important was the word's meaning.
— Masashi KishimotoI took the life of the woman I was supposed to call mother in the process of being born... In order to become the world's strongest shinobi... An incarnation of sand was implanted inside of me...
— Masashi KishimotoFor awhile, I thought that was love.-Gaara.
— Masashi KishimotoTo them I'm simply an object from the past that they wish will disappear Then why do I exist? Why am I alive? When I thought about this I could find no answer. But as you live you need a reason otherwise it's the same as being dead, I then came to this conclusion I exist to kill every human besides myself. Fighting only for yourself living while only loving yourself If you think that everybody else simply exist to allow you to experience that feeling nothing is better then that world. As long as there are people in this world for me to kill and continue to feel that joy of living my existence will not vanish.
— Masashi KishimotoThree times now... We've fought world wars for our own nations, our own villages. We've hurt one another. We've hated one another. That hatred bred a lust for power, and that lust for power created ME. I was a Jinchuuriki, the embodiment of hatred and power. And I hated this world, and all the people in it... I wanted to destroy it with my own hands. The exact same thing Akatsuki is trying to do today. But one man, one ninja from Konoha stopped me. I was his enemy, yet he wept for me! I hurt him, yet he called me his friend! He saved me! My enemy, my fellow Jinchuuriki... He suffered the same pain as me, yet bore no ill will! There are no enemies here because we've all suffered at Akatsuki's hand! SO THERE IS NO SAND, NO STONE, NO LEAF, NO MIST, NO CLOUD! THERE ARE ONLY SHINOBI! And if you still hold a grudge against the Sand, then when this war is over, come and take my head instead! Our enemies are after the friend who saved my life! If they take him, if we hand him over, our world is finished! I want to protect him, and I want to protect our world! But I'm too young to protect it all on my own! All of you lend me your aid!
— Masashi Kishimoto