I've also become much more the musician I've always wanted to be.

And I now think that Stratocasters and Telecasters are way cool.

I'm like a twenty-two-year-old kid in a new band trying to get noticed and break through, because the vast majority of people have never seen me play live.

On Eye of the Zombie, I had so-called studio musicians.

I usually destroy unreleased material. It has a way of coming back to haunt you.

I stuck with that size because I could bend the strings so well, and somewhere along the line I must have gotten it into my mind that I had small hands, so I was thinking I'd never be able to play a full-scale guitar, but I also felt like I was cheating or cutting corners.

The only sliding I did was on the kind of instrument that you put on your lap; no Spanish electrics.

No, but I've always felt that with true talent, and a commitment to hard work, it is possible to achieve an enduring respect and appreciation. In other words, I don't take my fans for granted.

The ones I have got great necks; of course, all of the Fenders from that era are incredible.

The Telecaster doesn't really sound that good for the kind of rock and roll that a lot of people played.

I've also become much more the musician I've always wanted to be.

I don't know that all the demons have been beaten, but I'm very, very proud of those songs.

I'm now comfortable playing a lot of the old songs, and I've gotten out a lot of the old equipment.

You should play with real musicians; the best music comes from real people interacting with each other.

Now that I'm older, I like almost anything that's done well, even surf music and instrumentals; I really enjoyed the interviews with the Ventures in your magazine.

When I made Blue Moon Swamp, there was a lot of trial and error; I was trying to find people who would be simpatico with my style, and with what I had in mind for the album.

I wrote that song for my wife, and it's what some guy who's sitting under a tree would be singing to the woman of his life, telling her how wonderful she is. To me, that's more lasting than something that sounds like it belongs on a movie soundtrack.

That song has the full extent of my mandolin abilities; I'm not a good mandolin player at all.

I work hard at that, but the fact that there are a lot of good songs means there are also a lot of really bad songs I've written that you never hear.

But I think beautiful is simple and elegant, like a ballad with simple harmony.

Even though I have often recorded alone, I still feel the best music is made by musicians playing off each other.

I went pretty much for one tone, and I knew at that time that I wanted to play a Rickenbacker.

There's just not a lot of guys around playing like that these days; a lot of steel players are plugging into stomp boxes, trying to sound like Jeff Beck on a steel guitar.

I've studied a lot of great people over the years - Pete Seeger, James Brown - and tried to incorporate elements that I've admired, though I can't say I dance like James.

I thought what I was good at doing was playing real simple guitar licks, since I'd cut my teeth on what Duane Eddy was doing; licks that were simple but had staying power.

Washburn's an old American name, but this one was assembled overseas.

I'm much more energetic now; you might say live performance is my mission.

Even though James Burton was my idol, I didn't think I could carry his shoes back then.

Sometimes I think life is just a rodeo the trick is to ride and make it to the bell.

Sometimes I think life is just a rodeo, the trick is to ride and make it to the bell.

When people divorce, it's always such a tragedy. At the same time, if people stay together it can be even worse.

The long-standing wisdom that everyone wins in a single world market has been undermined. Global trade, capital flows, and immigration are declining.

Authors are ordinary people who usually start to live apart, in the imagination, because they dont fit in with normal, healthy people.

The situation right after the fight wasn't too good; I believe I'm still the only champion in the world who never received the belt inside the ring once you've won the title. I held that against the English fans for a long time but I felt that also motivated me.

It is a good rule never to see or talk to the man whose words have wrung your heart, or helped it, just as it is wise not to look down too closely at the luminous glow which sometimes shines on your path on a summer night, if you would not see the ugly worm below.

Anybody who has been discriminated against, who comes from a group that's been discriminated against, knows what it's like.

If the end brings me out right, what people said about me won't make any difference, and if the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels saying I was right won't make any difference.

Career highlights? I had two - I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.

In a house where there are small children the bathroom soon takes on the appearance of the Old Curiosity Shop.

Queen Latifah used to help me out with my kids, because while we were all out on tour - Public Enemy, Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifah, Heavy D - when Public Enemy went onstage, I didn't have anybody solid to watch my kids. So, Latifah would help me out.

Globalization doesn't have to be a bad thing as long as government provides us all with the tools to cope in a changing world.

As you get older, you don't really have any excuse to be stupid anymore, to be in the dark.

A businessman admits that he 'let go' an employee because he was a Sunni Muslim. You simply have to look after yourself, he explains. I am shocked, like a good Westerner should be.

I feel like I'm so normal. So normal it's boring.

M*A*S*H' was a collection of people, in front of and behind the cameras, that really clicked.

The government can still conduct clandestine searches of innocent people's private information such as library, medical, and financial records. This is wrong and should have been addressed in a true compromise.

Only a pure heart, a completely pure heart can house eternity.

I don't know anything about life, but everything about cinema.

I never believed that surrendering the executive power should be a condition of getting the second term. The second term should stand on its own feet.