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.

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.

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.

Chet Atkins... is probably the best guitar player who ever lived.

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

The only constant in our marriage is the edge of the cliff we're hanging on to, killing time until we tire ourselves out and give in to our inevitable collapse.

A slice of bread eaten is a million times more nourishing than a loaf of bread imagined.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

Most people aren't even close to tapping into their true potential

It is not on the ruin of liberty that we may (in the future... - "pourra", Fr.) build justice.

The criterion of mental health is not one of individual adjustment to a given social order, but a universal one, valid for all men, of giving a satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

She said, tell me, are you a Christian, child? I said, Ma'am, I am tonight.

I can't live without you or with you.

I like to think there's more to a person than just one thing.