Life's supposed to be about making the path a little gentler for those traveling behind you.

To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.

For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness.

Be different, stand out, and work your butt off.

Again its time to pray for peace.

If you want to succeed in life...you must pick 3 bones to carry with you at all times: a wish bone, a backbone, and a funny bone.

It's very important to surround yourself with people you can learn from.

Finding a good bus driver can be as important as finding a good musician.

It's funny how many people will come to Vegas to see your show where they might not come out to see you unless you come to their hometown.

Make sure you're always giving, way more than you're taking

I had lots of breaks. I guess the one that got my foot in the door was singing the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City in '74.

You tell me that yes, I can do it. I know. And I may do it, if I so choose.You tell me that no, I cannot. I say, Oh? I shall do it, since you refuse!

To me, lyrics are harder to write when you have to invent the feelings behind them. That's when lyrics take a lot of thought, when they aren't genuine.

I improve in misquotation.

Pawn endings are to Chess what putting is to golf

Endless money forms the sinews of war. [Lat., Nervi belli pecunia infinita.]

Flattery has to overcome my mistrust, and it does.

Songs are snapshots of things - it's likened to looking at pictures.

I recently did a piece for the Boston Pops and John Williams, and I hope that it's as well a composed piece as I've ever done for any other medium or occasion.

We see in these swift and skillful travelers a symbol of our life, which seeks to be a pilgrimage and a passage on this earth for the way of heaven.

Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.