After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.

My theory is if you have a religion, it's a good one. Because some people don't have any at all.

The way you look for songs, you find yourself looking for little signals and clues about life and how things are.

I never fixed a story. I didn't make judgments, I let the listener make judgments. When I got to the end of the story, if it had a moral, I let the listener find it.

I am a fan of history.

I was well traveled, and I created this illusion of literacy through reading and writing. I wrote a book of short stories.

I have my own religion. I'm sort of one-quarter Baptist, one-quarter Catholic, one-quarter Jewish.

I love winners when they cry, losers when they try.

Young kids are doing the same thing I did, but they're doing it differently. They don't do brain surgery the way they used to do it either.

The first time with artistic endeavors is, if it's working, it was your idea, and if it's not, it's somebody else's idea.

People think because you're private, you have something you don't want them to know.

The best compliment I ever had is, one day I was in Nashville, some disc jockey said, Hey, that sounds like a Tom T. Hall song. Up until then there hadn't been any such thing.

Whiskey's to tough, Champagne costs too much, Vodka puts my mouth in gear. I hope this refrain, Will help me explain, As a matter of fact, I like beer.

I took up a sort of a hobby of just hanging around the local library. I'd pick out an author and I would read all their books.

This generation should entertain this generation. It's only fair. When I was a kid, I mowed the lawn. Now, somebody else's kid can mow the lawn.

After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.

I had the notion that I wanted to write the great dirty American novel, so I went to Roanoke College on the GI Bill.

When you retire, it's a place in life, a part of the journey. You just don't quit work; you develop an attitude where you can do what you please.

I never hid out. I was never big enough a star.

I was quite a reader before I became a writer.

Faulkner was almost oriental. I never got into Faulkner.

I'm a very comfortable and happy-go-lucky old man. I never wanted to be great, because I'd just get worried.

My best album is called In Search Of A Song. That was my best shot right there. My finest hour, as they say. I could listen to the whole thing all the way through. There's nothing really crammed into it.

The first guy who came up with the concept of religion was sitting out under a tree. I'm sure of that.

It used to be that you'd have a song recorded by a major country artist and if it was a hit, you could buy a car. Now you can buy a dealership.

I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.

If Barbara Walters was interviewing me, I'd figure her career was as dead as mine!

Religion is a strange, wonderful thing. More crimes have been committed in the name of righteousness than any other notion.

The first time with artistic endeavors is if its working it was your idea and if its not its somebody elses idea.

The enticing allure of Nashville is that there is always something new coming down the pike. Put this record on and you’ll hear footsteps.

Religion is a strange, wonderful thing. More crimes have been committed in the name of righteousness than any other notion

On the road to equality there is no better place for blacks to detour around American values than in forgoing its example in the treatment of its women and the organization of its family.

If I'm out trailriding, I have a favorite motorcycle. Riding on the road, I've got a favorite. If I'm jumping, I have a favorite, and if I'm racing, I have a favorite.

No one is guaranteed happiness. You can pursue it, but if you happen to find success along the way on that road to happiness, Conservatives believe you should not be demonized or penalized for it.

My desk, most loyal friend thank you. You've been with me on every road I've taken. My scar and my protection.

I like to take pictures of lots of things: people-such as my nephews, my dogs, and just interesting objects that I see. For instance, I might take a picture of flowers by the side of the road, an old sign or a fence.

Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the road Which to discover we must travel too.

The way was long and weary, But gallantly they strode, A country lad and lassie, Along the heavy road.

One is sorry one could not have taken both branches of the road. But we were not allotted multiple selves.

At home in Paris I take a milk bath two times a week, but here on the road it is more difficult. I miss them.

On that road of the informer, it is always night. I cannot ever inform against anyone without feeling something die within me. I inform without pleasure, because it is necessary.

And since I just turned 32, I'm thinking about getting married, having a family, and that's very difficult to do on the road as a correspondent.

Most of the international community, most of the countries around the world, don't want any side, any party to take unilateral steps. They would like that all of us to stick to the road map.

There is no royal road to anything, one thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.

With their souls of patent leather, they come down the road. Hunched and nocturnal, where they breathe they impose, silence of dark rubber, and fear of fine sand.

We toured that record for a year, which turned out to be the culmination of ten years of being constantly on the road. We were sick to death of touring.

Love or not, I wouldn't subject a wife to the road. It's punishment.

There's no road map on how to raise a family: it's always an enormous negotiation.

Show's going well. New season starting, we're on the road.