Funerals are a pagan rite. There's not any doubt about it.

Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.

America's criminal justice system isn't known for rehabilitation. I'm not sure that, as a society, we are even interested in that concept anymore.

I don't believe that songwriting has to be profound, but I truly believe that it's a crime for you to go outta your way for it not to be.

I have a low tolerance for mediocrity in music and life. I'm into pain and joy and the in-between doesn't interest me.

Actually, in its purest form, Islam is incredibly tolerant. That makes what's going on in the world really bizarre.

All we do as songwriters is rewrite the songs that have impressed us till we find our own voice. It's part of learning the craft.

You see things differently at 40 than you do at 31. Especially if you got to 40 the way I did.

Every day on Earth is another chance to get it right.

I don't really think in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.

To me, religion is an agreement between a group of people about what God is. Spirituality is a one-on-one relationship.

The wide awake man seizes opportunities or makes them, and thus those who are widest awake usually come to the front.

Caleb told me that our mother said there was evil in everyone, and the first step to loving someone else is to recognize that evil in ourselves, so we can forgive them.

Have the vision to create something wonderful, something that has true value forever.

Lies are like sleeping pills. You should only use them when you absolutely have to. They spoil everything if you make a habit of them.

Blessed is the man who has found someone to do his work.

Children laugh an average of three hundred or more times a day; adults laugh an average of five times a day. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Did you ever, think when the hearse passes by, that someday in it you will lie?

It's always gonna be different when I make a record just because I kind of touch on every sort of genre.

Big rocks are envy of little sands because little sands can travel with the winds. Every littleness has its own big advantages!

Guitar playing is very important to me. It's like golf to some other people; it's important to me that I play good.