After about three lessons [my] voice teacher said, "Don't take voice lessons. Do it your way. You're a song stylist. Always do it your way."

If you aren't gonna say exactly how and what you feel, you might as well not say anything at all.

I love the freedoms we got in this country, I appreciate your freedom to burn your flag if you want to, but I really appreciate my right to bear arms so I can shoot you if you try to burn mine.

You have to be what you are. Whatever you are, you gotta be it.

Life is rough so you gotta be tough.

There's a lot of things blamed on me that never happened. But then, there's a lot of things that I did that I never got caught at.

Life and love go on, let the music play.

I learn from my mistakes. It’s a very painful way to learn, but without pain, the old saying is, there’s no gain.

it's good to know who hates you and it is good to be hated by the right people

There is a spiritual side to me that goes real deep, but I confess right up front that I'm the biggest sinner of them all.

Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.

We are kept keen on the grindstone of pain and necessity.

Malibu: With sounds of waves crashing, and the ocean at the doorstep, you feel like you are hours away from civilization. And with L.A. traffic, YOU ARE.

Jefferson was the rare leader who stood out from the crowd without intimidating it.

There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin.

[My grandparents] were from Texas. El Paso. White trash.

Imagination is the beginning of reality.

I know I stand visibly onstage, but my function is still unseen, because I rarely see the immediate results of what I am saying or doing or writing.

If you always say no, you'll never say yes.

I never talk about things that don't matter. I never talk about things that are unimportant. I always talk about things that interest me.

you are so great, and I am so small, I hardly can think of you, World, at all