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

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

Thankfully, I'm lucky enough to be able to eat ice cream. I've got to have my cookies and cream! But I work out a lot, so I burn a lot of calories.

The way I see it, I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator. I'm going to Washington to be the second senator from the state of Minnesota.

I am quite odd-looking in real life.

It's quite difficult for me to imagine my life without chess.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.

There are particular images that I like. Allegro is composed of a series of still life photographs that has been put to speed. There is so much care that has gone into the composition of the cinematography.

It was just a hobby. I didn't expect it to turn into a business.

Homophobias just one form of abjection and wherever you have a marker of deviance skin colour gender gender identity disability you get the same mechanisms of prejudice.

When we judge, we are always in a psychic space which is circular.

In advertising, you have a small window to say the most you can. That's what songwriting is. The difference is, you get to put the leaves on the trees and colour 'em in.

Chronic disease is a foodborne illness. We ate our way into this mess, and we must eat our way out.

I try to speak in everyday language. I feel like God has gifted me to take Bible principles and make them practical.

Don't give up your dreams.

When you go looking for rescue, you end up trapped in your own weakness.

Parallels between classical and pop are not new. The whole San Francisco movement of John Cage and Terry Riley went hand in glove with what the Velvet Underground were doing.

I have no beliefs of a religious kind.

If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me.

Connection starves suspicion.