Early in my career I began receiving letters from a woman in the Midwest who claimed to be my mother.

For most entertainers, there is a single experience, one defining moment, when confidence replaces the self-doubt that most of us wrestle with.

The tastes of country music fans are not limited to the narrow range defined by consultants and programmers and record company moguls.

It used to be that if you had a pretty good record, you could stop by a station in Little Rock or Atlanta and let the DJ listen to it. No way something like that can happen now.

The time I spent thinking about how I was better than somebody else or worrying about somebody else's attitude was time I could put to better use.

I finally came to terms with manic depression and lithium. I've taken lithium regularly for the past few years and have had no further bouts with manic depression.

Fans are what make a performer and I've always taken them seriously.

A fan will grab you and hug you and will not let go. When that happens, you wish it could be that way all over the world.

There only have been two people on this earth that I was nervous around: Chet Atkins and Mickey Mantle. It's because of the respect I have for them.

No one had ever told me that whites were supposed to sing one kind of music and blacks another - I sang what I liked in the only voice I had.

I learned to tune a guitar by ear. That method has served me pretty well.

He who steals a belt buckle pays with his life

It should be held as an eternal truth, that what is morally wrong can never be politically right.

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.

Marry for love, stay married, and raise happy children who are quick to laugh and slow to judge.

I just saw Memento. It's very, very good. I watch a lot of French films.

If you're the parent, be a parent. You know what I mean? I'm a parent. I have daughters.

Say, Britain, could you ever boast, Three poets in an age at most? Our chilling climate hardly bears A sprig of bays in fifty years.

I hate the PC, with a passion.

I try to find, celebrate and teach leaders how to build platforms that will inspire others.

Those are terrible people who don't like Glenn Gould... I will have nothing to do with such people, they are dangerous people.