The more I separate myself from my upbringing, the more I appreciate what it's done for me.

I'm fascinated by the whole concept of snake handling. When you read about the Pentecostal snake handlers, what strikes you the most is their commitment.

I'm just like everyone. I like to feel togetherness with someone.

So few people are truly themselves when they're in the spotlight.

I'm not just a doormat. I'm not just being stepped on all over the place. If you look at the bulk of my material, it's about trying to find some strength through that.

People let their own hang-ups become the obstacles between them and personal happiness.

As it turns out, now is the moment you've been waiting for

I guess you could write a good song if your heart hadn't been broken, but I don't know of anyone whose heart hasn't been broken.

The perfect man? A poet on a motorcycle.

First thing, I throw on some jeans, a T-shirt and my Keds sneakers and make coffee. That is actually my favorite time of day. That is when I do my songwriting, when I am in writing mode.

Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don’t want it.

You want to move on, but to do that you have to let her go, and you don't want to let her go, so you don't move on.

Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty.

When you hear fear knocking on the door, most of the time when you answer it there’s nothing there. It’s just you holding yourself back.

Perhaps the most important ingredient in my work... is my brain - particularly the right brain... the free spontaneous side, and the left brain, which is careful and methodical.

Authentic men aren't afraid to show affection, release their feelings, hug their children, cry when they're sad, admit it when they're wrong, and ask for help when they need it.

I know there isn't anything I can do that will please everybody. But if I have done according to my beliefs, I sleep very very well.

Art keeps one young, I think, because it keeps one perpetually a beginner, perpetually a child.

The tiny, initial clue ... by allowing us to imagine what we do not know, stimulates a desire for knowledge.

It's better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one.

I stick my finger into existence and it smells of nothing.