I had just lost my dad and I remembered all the songs we used to go and hear at concerts, and the records around the house and sometimes we'd play together.

I formally proposed. I'm a good Southern gentleman.

I would love to hear someone write a song like 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' rather than 'You're hot. I'm hot. We're in a truck.' It's just mind-numbing to me.

Yes, the companionship is amazing. You know, you can get that physical attraction that happens is great, but then there's an awful lot of time and the rest of the day that you have to fill.

I've always been more drawn to being normal than being famous.

Music is like having a conversation. All musicians inspire each other, and they're all geared to play something that matters.

Success is always temporary. When all is said and one, the only thing you'll have left is your character.

I do not like being famous. I like being normal.

A lot of people play to impress, but the really gifted ones play to move. That's the greatest point of ever doing this.

There ain't no future in the past.

I made records in the past that are as traditional as any other country records that have been made, but at the same time the records have a contemporary slant on it too.

If people are not dancing to your tune, change the song.

I don't play pyrotechnic scales. I play about frustration, patience, anger. Music is an extension of my soul.

I am certain and have always stressed that the destination of mankind is to become more and more humane. The ideal of humanity has to be revived.

For my father, being kind was natural... I have to really work at it. I love competing and winning, conquest - not words you usually associate with kindness.

Those who write software only for pay should go hurt some other field.

Untroubled, scornful, outrageous - that is how wisdom wants us to be: she is a woman and never loves anyone but a warrior.

In a way I'm probably immortal.

If you tell a lie, tell a big one.

Hedonism can be a rational response to a difficult life.

You put down one color and it calls for an answer. You have to look at it like a melody.