I always make music that is true to my spirit.

It sounds corny, but I've promised my inner child that never again will I ever abandon myself for anything or anyone else again.

My music is about the journey, about love and the human experience.

The failures and successes are necessary for learning.

To heal from the inside out is the key.

I am a fan of today's sound as long as we don't get too slick, and yet I am very reverent of my roots.

Digital downloading of music has affected us all in adverse ways.

I have a very deep and wide relationship with my fans.

You have to fill your cup. You then give away the overflowing, but you keep a cupful for yourself.

Most of us are imprisoned by something. We're living in darkness until something flips on the switch.

Silence is refreshment for the soul.

I always make music that is true to my spirit.

I used to only worry about the #1's and all of the awards. But that was a long time ago.

My story of success and failure is not just about music and being famous. It's about living and loving and trying to find purpose in this crazy world.

I learned again that the mind-body-spirit connection has to be in balance.

I also believe my musical abilities are a true gift from God.

I have always loved the process of making the music, reading the letters from the fans who get married to my music, have children to my music and play my music at their funerals.

I've learned lately that no one is going to hand me a permission slip and tell me to take time out for me.

There's a place for all types of country music as long as there is honesty and realness and a real human experience for the fans.

I know that the internet has helped a new world audience find me.

When you are real in your music, people know it and they feel your authenticity.

The mother-daughter relationship is the most complex.

Without love in you life, you have nothing.

If I can make a connection, one connection, to any one listener in the world, I consider that successful.

The love of these people and of my fans mean more than any award or special accomplishment.

I never took a music lesson in my life, it just came naturally.

It took me 36 years to be able to be by myself and like it.

Success takes us to the top and away from those we love.

I don't take my fans' love and dedication for granted.

We are losing our superstars like Johnny and June Carter Cash and that breaks my heart.

I am a child of God.

Because I now realize, after all this time, I have never truly felt worthy of all that I have been given.

I am most proud that I stayed true to the music of my soul.

You have to fill your cup. You then give away the overflowing but you keep a cupful for yourself.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

My singing is my hobby. It's me and my brother. We just enjoy writing music.

I was determined to carve out a music of my own. I didn't want to copy anybody.

I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.