It was really amazing. I mean, he'd never mentioned that he played in the symphony, like serious violin playing, not fiddle playing. And he just blew us away.

All gut strings. That's just the first kind of guitar I played, it was a nylon string guitar. And to me, it's the purest form of guitar making, and I just enjoy doing it.

It's just something I've always done. In South Texas, the first guitar you get is a Mexican guitar. And the first one I got, the first thing I did was take it apart.

Darrell is really good in the studio. I mean, he has a real working knowledge of how the process works, and what sounds good coming back over tape, and how the stuff works together.

I get pretty much all the exercise I need walking down airport concourses carrying bags.

It was really amazing. I mean, he'd never mentioned that he played in the symphony, like serious violin playing, not fiddle playing. And he just blew us away.

Things change all the time, and they'll probably never be the same again. It's just the natural evolution of the human condition. Things change, and whatever it is is what it is. I mean, you try to start second guessing that, you either get rich or die broke.

I have no reason to sit home and write songs all day without going out and playing for the folks. And I have no reason to go play for the folks unless I'm writing new songs so they can sort of feed off one another. And I just try to do the best I can.

I just was apologizing for maybe being a little goofy.

I don't know what the outcome will be. I put a couple away for my grandkids, like that. So I don't know, who knows? Maybe I'll start building guitars for a living.

There aren't any rules, as far as anything-and that applies especially to writing songs, whatever gets the point across. So you're just kind of brought up to feel-in any field, if you say you can do it, do it. There it is.

But by the time you get there and you get home, it winds up being a lot of time out. So I'm getting the itch to build, I know that. I keep looking at my stacks of wood and what I can do with it.

Well, I had a fiddle that I really can't play, so I loaned it to Darrell. But yeah, he's from another planet.

Ain't no chance if you don't take it.

I've known Shawn for several years. And he's just an amazing talent. He's a great writer, a marvelous, marvelous guitar player, and plays really good fiddle.

Mary Gauthier's great. Yeah, we've played a lot of gigs together. She's really wonderful.

Chris is the engineer down at the studio where we do these things. And he's just such an integral part and he has such a marvelous ear. Also it turns out, we didn't know, but he's a pretty good fiddle player.

You know what it's like to persuade a pigheaded child to do something they don't want to. If they hear the same suggestion from someone else, they'll go right off and do it.

When I grew up, the Devil was a reason why I had a headache or the Devil was the reason I got mad today. We always blamed the Devil. I think today when I say the Enemy, I like to make it broader. Sometimes the Enemy can be our own thoughts.

Humor is healing.

To do all your own stunts, you have to be so strong.

Anything you can imagine is probably true. And the worst you can imagine is probably worth money.

I never want to lose sight of my roots... A lot of artists want the riches and the fame. I want to tell stories you can put into the context of your life.

There is as much wisdom in listening as there is in speaking - and that goes for all relationships, not just romantic ones.

I worked the drive-through at McDonald's and tried out different accents - Italian, Russian, Irish.

In the calm, deep waters of the mind, the wolf waits.

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.

China and India will take the global leadership on climate change: they are suffering for it.

Only one thing registers on the subconscious mind: repetitive application - practice. What you practice is what you manifest.

I don't think it's the case that 'posh actors' get more work than others.

Every spiritual tradition has this idea of death and resurrection. It's not unique to Christianity.

Natural DNA is a tractless coil like an unwound and tangled audiotape on the floor of the car in the dark.

I think a lot of the world searches in vain for happiness in ways that will not bring them happiness.

Honestly, with me, as long as I have a park to play basketball in, I'm pretty cool.

Remember that you are not a damsel in distress, waiting for some prince to rescue you. Forget that prince. With your brain and your resourcefulness, you can rescue yourself.

I started going to acting school when I was 14, and I would always have my own take on things.

Like books you will never have the chance to read, there are languages you do not know, and you're not going to get a chance to learn, so you'll never really know what was written, only the approximation.

As we rise higher in the understanding of ourselves, the national and racial dissonances will be forgotten in the universal rhythms of Truth and Love.

I loved education, and, yes, I did want to go on learning.

Before you're a mom you don't know what gear is going to be relevant.

Realism is a corruption of reality.