My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.

There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, ‚Truth is the daughter of Time.‘

To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.

We are anthill men upon an anthill world.

The artist forges himself to the others, midway between the beauty he cannot do without and the community he cannot tear himself away from. That is why true artists scorn nothing: they are obliged to understand rather than to judge.

What makes a song last is real content from a mind that is thinking a little bit harder about certain things. A lot of artists don’t really think that hard.

It’s funny because I’ve made a living off of words, but words get in the way of what you really want to say.

Van Gogh never made a penny in his entire lifetime. He painted because it was his soul, his excitement. It was what aligned him with his Source of being. It’s the same with me and writing.

The Hindu religions gave me the impression of a vast well into which one plunges in order to grasp the reflection of the sun.

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.

Philosophy is common sense with big words.

Oh, I’ve always been very… Emotional. ‚Hypersensitive‘ is what they call it, I think.

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

To the people I forgot, you weren’t on my mind for some reason and you probably don’t deserve any thanks anyway.

Life cannot be without relationship, but we have made it so agonizing and hideous by basing it on personal and possessive love. Can one love and yet not possess? You will find the true answer not in escape, ideals, beliefs but through the understanding of the causes of dependence and possessiveness.

The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

Each life makes its own immitation of immortality.

The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.

Despair is the conclusion of fools.

I’m no hillbilly singer.

Sweet is the memory of past troubles.

The heart is forever inexperienced.

Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.

Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.

I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterwards.

I think I first realized I wanted to be in country music and be an artist when I was 10. And I started dragging my parents to festivals, and fairs, and karaoke contests, and I did that for about a year before I came to Nashville for the first time. I was 11 and I had this demo CD of me singing Dixie Chicks and Leanne Rimes songs.

My work as an artist is completely separate from my work as a philanthropist.

I was so rude when I was a little girl.

The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom… in a clarification of life – not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion.

Music was an experience, intimately married to your life. You could pay to hear music, but after you did, it was over, gone – a memory.

It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.

My mum passing away wasn’t funny, but that funeral and what I went through, the things that happened, looking back at it, there were funny moments. You have to be strong enough to look back at it, to sit and assess the situation.

Anger cannot be dishonest.

Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.

After the first blush of sin comes its indifference.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

I do probably 60 concerts a year in the States. And I go out to clubs in the week. I’m doing new stuff all the time.

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.

There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It’s always been my way of expressing what, for me, is inexpressible by any other means.

Give thy thoughts no tongue.

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.

There is no love of life without despair of life.

To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.

If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.

I like Cardi B!

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.

What’s done can’t be undone.

It’s a curse. I ask God to take this away from me all the time. I do not like being an artist.

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor e’er shall be.

Darn the wheel of the world! Why must it continually turn over? Where is the reverse gear?

The writing is important, but the way you say the line and the pause you give it, the facial expression – all of that is very important.

Music is not math. It’s science. You keep mixing the stuff up until it blows up on you, or it becomes this incredible potion.

I don’t think there’s an option for me to fall in love slowly or at medium speed. I either do, or I don’t.

Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased.

I remember when I first came to Washington. For the first six months you wonder how the hell you ever got here. For the next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got here.

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven’t committed.