I was influenced a lot by those around me - there was a lot of singing that went on in the cotton fields.

You know why divorces are so expensive? They're worth it.

I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.

I got along without you before I met you and I'll get along without you a long time after you're gone.

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.

I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?

If you got the money honey I got the time and when you run out of money honey I run out of time.

We're still here trying to get the word out that 330 farmers are quitting every week.

I was influenced a lot by those around me - there was a lot of singing that went on in the cotton fields.

I never gave up on country music because I knew what I was doing was not that bad.

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.

We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it.

I didn't come here and I ain't leavin'.

I like myself better when I'm writing regularly.

Most of the stuff I've read about me has been true.

The whole house came up and I came up with it... I was just praying to the Lord to take care of me.

As long as there's a few farmers out there, we'll keep fighting for them.

My doctor tells me I should start slowing it down - but there are more old drunks than there are old doctors so let's all have another round.

All I do is play music and golf - which one do you want me to give up?

What has changed is that nothing has changed... that's what has made me more unhappy than everything else.

Ninety-nine percent of the world's lovers are not with their first choice. That's what makes the jukebox play.

And as far as guitars go, I loved Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West's stuff.

Anybody can be unhappy. We can all be hurt. You don't have to be poor to need something or somebody. Rednecks, hippies, misfits - we're all the same. Gay or straight? So what? It doesn't matter to me. We have to be concerned about other people, regardless.

But if you think of all the people who don't like me, just think of all the millions who've never heard of me!

Cruelty is all out of ignorance. If you knew what was in store for you, you wouldn't hurt anybody, because whatever you do comes back much more forceful than you send it out.

Don't try to change anybody. And they should let you be yourself, 'You loved me when you met me, so let's keep going!'

Freedom is control in your own life.

Freedom is control in your own life. I have more control now than in the past, and I'm learning the value of saying no. That's very important.

I am not a pig farmer. The pigs had a great time, but I didn't make any money.

I believe that all roads lead to the same place - and that is wherever all roads lead to.

I don't like to think too far ahead.

I don't think any person has any special knowledge about what God has planned for me and you any more than me and you do.

I guess if you can't sing, you better have a style!

I just enjoy both working and not working.

I like to play small clubs.

I think I'm basically the same guy I always was. Maybe I've learned, through experience, to rein in some of the anger and temper they say redheads normally have.

I think most art comes out of poverty and hard times.

I think most people realize that our problems are our government, not me and you individually, except that we can - must have some sort of responsibility, because they're in there and they were elected, so we have to defend ourselves on those lines.

I used to work in the cotton fields a lot when I was young. There were a lot of African Americans working out there. A lot of Mexicans - the blacks and the whites and the Mexicans, all out there singing, and it was like an opera in the cotton fields, and I can still hear it in the music that I write and play today.

I wanted to connect all people who are thinking about peace on Earth.

I would like to see more airplay for all artists, no matter what age. I think there's a lot of money being spent toward the young guys, but a lot of the older guys are the ones who blazed the trail for those young guys.

I'm a romantic slob!

I'm from Texas, and one of the reasons I like Texas is because there's no one in control.

If a song was ever good, it's still good.

If you really want to get along with somebody, let them be themselves.

It doesn't hurt to feel sad from time to time.

Sometimes there is a 36-piece orchestra going off in my stomach.

There are only so many notes so there must be only so many melodies.

Well the country songs themselves are three-chord stories, ballads which are mostly sad. If you are already feeling sorry for yourself when you listen to them they will take you to an even sadder place.