Nobody knows how life originated and whether it originated on Earth or somewhere else. Since today's living systems - including simple unicellular bacteria - are all very complex, it is rather difficult to understand how a living system could originate from the non-living. Although there are a number of experimental data on the synthesis of biologically relevant molecules carried out under presumably prebiotic conditions, it is difficult to imagine how the first cell(s) formed as a result of a prebiological, chemical evolution. It may well be that the ideas about the origin of the first cells do not consider all the possibilities which are given by the self-organization of amphiphilic molecules, compounds which have water-soluble as well as water-insoluble parts in their molecular structure. In addition to the obvious role of certain amphiphiles in the formation of the lipid matrix of the cell membrane, there may be other important roles of amphiphiles to be considered. Some of these possible roles are discussed.