It's really a lot easier to write about things that are problematic. Who wants to hear how happy you are?

I enjoyed hearing people do their own songs. I became attracted to singer-songwriters. I became interested in them as people; was curious about what they wanted to say.

I've been lucky to be able to make the records I've wanted to make. The record company has never pressured me to cut certain songs.

I am limited by what I can think of to do-my choices are not so great.

It's really a lot easier to write about things that are problematic. Who wants to hear how happy you are?

It's difficult to get started-when it comes to dealing with an unknown quantity, people are reluctant to trust their own opinion. It helps if two or three people give you a boost.

I don't feel like I'm on a mission. I'm trying to play music that I like to play and like to listen to.

Fortunately, I've never had a job.

Singing your own songs is all about individual expression.

You can't second-guess your audience. You can only do what you think is right. If you do that, your audience will appreciate you.

I'm really in no danger of being perceived as a famous movie actor!

Somehow you can tell the difference when a song is written just to get on the radio and when what someone does is their whole life. That comes through in Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson. There is no separating their life from their music.

I played guitar when I was young and never really considered it as a way to make a living.

Both my parents worked, so I was home alone a lot, and I would listen to their records. They belonged to the Columbia House record club, so they had records!

It's important to be successful enough to be able to keep doing what you love.

As a songwriter, you try your best to write a good song, and you like nothing better than hearing a good song. It's easy to admire a great song, and you want to share out of enthusiasm.

Dad often told me, 'My job is to help my boss do his job and make him look good.' That was my dad's objective. Everything about the way he conducted himself was to communicate support for his superiors and respect for his coworkers. The way he dressed was his starting point in that communication.

Horses teach you patience and how to do things the right way so you can get the right result.

I've always thought that writing isn't really that hard. It's having a good idea that's hard.

I've gotten to work with some wonderful directors and people who have been great teachers to me.

If you forget the words to your own song, you can always claim artistic license. Forget the words to the national anthem, and you're screwed.

In school, I didn't speak up often in class. I was never the person to yell out an answer. If I knew it, I might whisper it to my buddy and let him answer. I kept quiet.

Never guess a woman's age. Never guess a woman's weight. Never even talk about weight in front of a woman. And never, ever ask a woman when she's due.

One of my favorite things is when people will ask for a song that I hadn't planned to play. It is really fun to see if you can remember something, and you don't always. I mean, sometimes it's just crash and burn.

The idea that we humans are good-natured, politically correct, nonjudgmental beings is pure fantasy. We are, at the very least, judgmental.

The most important thing you can do as a performer is to be yourself, or be an onstage version of yourself. If you're not being true to yourself, and somebody likes that other version of you, you're kind of stuck.

Tipping your hat to a lady is good form. If you're at a dinner table, you'd most certainly take your hat off - cowboy hat, baseball hat, or otherwise.

Wear what you want to wear. Do what you want to do. Be who you are. Pick out your own clothes. Be a man. And if that's too much to ask, as it almost always is for me, think of someone you consider to be a man and pretend to be like him. I pretend to be like my dad.

When I first was trying to play the clubs around Houston to start playing my own songs, songwriters like Eric Taylor and Vince Bell and Townes Van Zandt and Don Sanders were just really encouraging to me and would let me sit in with them during their sets and introduce me to the person that owned and booked the club.

You don't have to have anything in common with people you've known since you were five. With old friends, you've got your whole life in common.

You're saying something with your appearance whether you mean to or not, so you may as well mean to.

I dont know what it is about the shower that generates creative thoughts. Maybe its the hot water. Maybe its being unencumbered even by the restriction of clothing.

Its important to be successful enough to be able to keep doing what you love.

When you have a solid upbringing and a strong sense of place, that sustains you. My sense of home never leaves me.

I hope I'm very similar to my mum because she is a fantastic mother. She was driven as well as being incredibly protective and caring, and I think that is important.

Back home in South Carolina, you have a lot of little soul food restaurants you can run to and get some quick, decent food.

Any time I get to go home is a joyous occasion.

The impact of T.V. on our lives in general gets most things out of proportion.

I tend to look out for things with a resonance to my youth - artists or objects that seemed romantic all those years ago. I never buy anything purely for its value. I like possessions that smile back at me.

I never studied sculpture, engineering or architecture. In fact, after college I applied to seven art schools and was rejected by all seven.

Being a 'monopoly' is not illegal, nor is trying to best one's competitors through lower prices, better customer service, greater efficiency, or more rapid innovation.

The true sovereign is not the American president nor the English king, but the Lord of the Second Advent.

I like knowing about everything, and I think that really helps me in my business.

I'm a 'bound book' kind of girl. I have a Kindle, and I enjoy it for some things, like convenience or instant gratification, or all the little things that you can do with them.

Things have to be believable, not in a literal, photographic sense, but in an emotional sense - capturing the essence of the situation.

I guess if you're lucky enough not to have to pay your rent, then you or I take much more seriously the kind of work that I do, what it takes for me to leave two teenagers of my own and six stepchildren and a husband and four grandchildren.

We seldom repent talking little, but very often talking too much.

And I would like to marry and have more children. I would like to try and do it right.

I know that I'm definitely not a big big snob, and I know that at the times that I am a diva I know I'm being a diva. It's kind of annoying to know that you are. Because it's a person I do not want to be. So I'm trying my best not to become a jerk.