I think the zenith of popular songwriting to the United States of America was that period that started in the '20s and went into the '50s. It was the period of the great American standard song.

The essential elements of singing are voice, musicianship, and story. It is the rare artist that has all three in abundance.

The thing you have to be prepared for is that other people don't always dream your dream.

The only reason to be with somebody is that they make you a better person and you make them a better person.

Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight, someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight.

Everywhere you go, there's a soundtrack. You can't really quite hear it. It's just a little out of the range of hearing.

When the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby, it helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky.

Even though I know how very far apart we are, it helps to think we might be wishing underneath the same bright star.

Ninety-nine percent of singing is listening and hearing, and so then 1 percent of it is singing.

I think musicians are always supportive of each other because they want the groove to keep going on. They just basically want to play music.

I think there's mind in nature. There's a power in nature, and there's a universal power that you'd better not ignore.

First they will laugh... after that they will either deny or follow you.

I swallowed, feeling like I'd just gotten the wind knocked out of me. He was breathtaking.

My strength never came from political echelons, it came from the family. And from the fields and the lands and the flowers and everything I see there. My strength came from there.

My worst nightmare is being stuck somewhere with nothing to read.

Anyone who has brought up children knows that consistency has absolutely nothing to do with discipline.

But the way I see it, dying without knowing love would be a tragedy.

In L.A., though, people get off busses calling themselves actors, so many are really not professionals.

It is harsh enough for each man to bear his own wound. But he who leads bears the wounds of all who follow him.

I'm coming from journalism, but at the same time I'm tempted by poetry, politics, and maybe the idea of being a witness, a belief that you can still change things with the image.

Good things should be praised.