The only thing that relaxes me is archery. That’s why I have to have apartments with gardens.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

When I’m in my 50s, I kind of think I’ll want to be in a garden.

Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better… I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.

First I shake the whole Apple tree, that the ripest might fall. Then I climb the tree and shake each limb, and then each branch and then each twig, and then I look under each leaf.

I’d like to dial it back 5% or 10% and try to have a vacation that’s not just e-mail with a view.

God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.

I like to take it easy.

During the season, most of my time to unwind is in my car ride home. When I get home, it’s being with my kids.

You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.

When you’re outside, and everything is highland, it’s like nature has its own sound, and that’s one of my favorite sounds. I really loved sitting still silently outside, in a tree or in a bush, to just think.

I’m very type-A, and many things in my life are about control and domination, but eating should be a submissive experience, where you let down your guard and enjoy the ride.

On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings.

Every time I plant a seed, He say kill it before it grow, he say kill it before they grow.

Running started as a way of relaxing. It’s the only time I have to myself. No phones or e-mails or faxes.

It opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens down the temper; so cry away.

There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.

You don’t even really need a place. But you feel like you’re doing something. That is what coffee is. And that is one of the geniuses of the new coffee culture.

There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern… No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

When we go out to the country and just sit there, what we’re really doing is just switching off various kinds of alertness that we don’t have to use. When we do that, we are stopping being defensive. We are no longer shutting ourselves off from different types of experiences, we are welcoming them in.

What I like to do is get the family in the pick-up truck… and then we just go for a drive. That’s it!

There’s nothing more comfortable or leisurely than having a pair of Ugg slippers on in the house.

Right now I’m just delighted to be alive and to have had a nice long bath.

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

I tend to stay up late, not because I’m partying but because it’s the only time of the day when I’m alone and don’t have to be performing.

I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.

Sowing is not as difficult as reaping.

Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport.

Cycling can be lonely, but in a good way. It gives you a moment to breathe and think, and get away from what you’re working on.

Any reading not of a vicious species must be a good substitute for the amusements too apt to fill up the leisure of the labouring classes.

A big man has no time really to do anything but just sit and be big.

Never get out of bed before noon.

To describe my scarce leisure time in today’s terms, I always default to reading.

Become slower in your journey through life. Practice yoga and meditation if you suffer from ‚hurry sickness.‘ Become more introspective by visiting quiet places such as churches, museums, mountains and lakes. Give yourself permission to read at least one novel a month for pleasure.

I love having my hands in the dirt. It is never a science and always an art. There are no rules. And if it comes down to me versus that weed I’m trying to pull out of the ground that doesn’t want to come out? I know I’ll win.

Sleep, that deplorable curtailment of the joy of life.

I can relax with bums because I am a bum. I don’t like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don’t like to be shaped by society.

It’s very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.

Meditation is a great way to keep my body well-centered while juggling shooting schedules and recording sessions.

I love making music. That’s what I love to do. So I don’t feel like there’s any need to take a break unless I want to.

Give yourself more opportunities for privacy, when you are not bombarded with duties and obligations. Privacy is not a rejection of those you love; it is your deserved respite for recharging your batteries.

Turn resolutely to work, to recreation, or in any case to physical exercise till you are so tired you can’t help going to sleep, and when you wake up you won’t want to worry.

Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.

I have been practicing archery for a long time; a bow and arrow helps me to unwind.

For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.

What makes me happy is just curling up in with my mom in her bed and watching a marathon of ‚CSI‘ and ‚Grey’s Anatomy‘ episodes with pints of ice cream.

Gardening is not a rational act.

Sometimes I do need to go to karaoke, sometimes I need to relax.

I found music to be the therapy of choice. I guess it is for a lot of people.

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

I have no trouble sleeping.

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.

Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.

There’s no substitute for the practice of meditation.

I sell escapism.

My understanding of racial discrimination as a child was highly distorted because the most prominent man in Archery was an African-American bishop. When he came home from up north, where he was in charge of A.M.E. churches in five states, it was front-page news. He was the most successful man in my life.

I’m really good at sleeping on planes. I mean, I smell jet fuel and I’m out; I’m asleep for takeoff.

The gigantic tension before the shooting of an arrow, and the total relaxation seconds later, is my way of connecting to the universe.

Sleep is the best meditation.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.

Knowing that the time to sleep has come, the Lord sleeps, and does well in sleeping. Often, when we have been fretting and worrying, we should have glorified God far more had we literally gone to sleep.