diff --git a/core/core-ui.el b/core/core-ui.el
index 4ac1f96ff..8c58cf0f3 100644
--- a/core/core-ui.el
+++ b/core/core-ui.el
@@ -616,6 +616,12 @@ startup (or theme switch) time, so long as `doom--prefer-theme-elc' is non-nil."
 ;;
 ;;; Fixes/hacks
 
+;; Doom doesn't support `customize' and it never will. It's a clumsy interface
+;; for something that should be configured from only one place ($DOOMDIR), so we
+;; disable them.
+(put 'customize 'disabled "Doom doesn't support `customize', configure Emacs from $DOOMDIR/config.el instead")
+(put 'customize-themes 'disabled "Set `doom-theme' or use `load-theme' in $DOOMDIR/config.el instead")
+
 ;; doesn't exist in terminal Emacs; we define it to prevent errors
 (unless (fboundp 'define-fringe-bitmap)
   (fset 'define-fringe-bitmap #'ignore))