Anybody can be unhappy. We can all be hurt. You don't have to be poor to need something or somebody. Rednecks, hippies, misfits - we're all the same. Gay or straight? So what? It doesn't matter to me. We have to be concerned about other people, regardless.
— Willie Nelson
Since I was a kid, music was what I wanted to do. I thought I could make it by my own talents. That's what I wanted to prove.
All my kids were raised on computers: They were home-schooled on the Internet, so they're pretty good at that stuff. And I'm proud of them, but I don't really keep up with it.
I used to work in the cotton fields a lot when I was young. There were a lot of African Americans working out there. A lot of Mexicans - the blacks and the whites and the Mexicans, all out there singing, and it was like an opera in the cotton fields, and I can still hear it in the music that I write and play today.
Freedom is control in your own life. I have more control now than in the past, and I'm learning the value of saying no. That's very important.
I'm not prejudiced in any way that I can think of. That's just not the guy I am.
Great songs stand out wherever they're from.
You want to be a good parent and you want to be a friend, and it's hard to be both. You have to balance it as well as you can.
I grew up across the street from, you know, the Villarias, which was a great Mexican family there. In fact, there was three houses right across the street from me. So, day and night, I listened to Mexican music, and I'm sure, you know, my guitar playing, singing, writing, whatever, has a lot of Mexican flavor there, but it comes natural.
Writing books is fun because after I do a show for a couple hours, I'm in a bus for 22 hours. It's not hard for me to look out the window and tell a joke here and there.
I'm from Texas, and one of the reasons I like Texas is because there's no one in control.
The first time I got onstage was when I was about 5 years old. It was at a church social, and I had a poem to recite.
I think most art comes out of poverty and hard times.
I guess if you can't sing, you better have a style!
When I'm driving the highway by myself is when I write best.
Freedom is control in your own life.
I think I'm basically the same guy I always was. Maybe I've learned, through experience, to rein in some of the anger and temper they say redheads normally have.
A lot of country music is sad. I think most art comes out of poverty and hard times. It applies to music. Three chords and the truth - that's what a country song is. There is a lot of heartache in the world.
Don't try to change anybody. And they should let you be yourself, 'You loved me when you met me, so let's keep going!'
I text and email my friends and family a lot, but that's about the extent of my high-tech-etude.
Everything about Sinatra was good. He had the ability to pick great songs, and once Sinatra had sung them, that pretty much was it. He pretty much put his stamp on everything.
We've already been reincarnated about a million times, maybe. It doesn't make sense any other way.
You could make any song sound creepy if you wanted. It's all about the inflection.
When you're singing, you're using extra muscles, and it requires a lot of exercise and breathing. You can't do that if you're a sissy. If I have any fitness advice for people, I'd tell them to sing more. It's good therapy, too.
I started out writing poems before I figured to put melodies to them and play the guitar. Somewhere, there's a book out there on all those early songs and poems. I hope no one ever finds it. I don't think it's my finest work.
I was born in Abbott, Texas, a little small town in central Texas, and I was raised by my grandparents. And my parents divorced when I was six months old, and my grandparents raised me.
I think Ray Charles did as much as anybody when he did his country music album. Ray Charles broke down borders and showed the similarities between country music and R&B.
America, to me, is freedom.
You don't have to be poor to need something or somebody.
If a song was ever good, it's still good.
I'm a romantic slob!
I like to play small clubs.
I don't think any person has any special knowledge about what God has planned for me and you any more than me and you do.
I wanted to connect all people who are thinking about peace on Earth.
When I was about 12, I had my first paying gig - 8 dollars to play rhythm guitar in a polka band. Pretty soon, I ended up playing in all the bars within driving distance of Abbott, Texas.
If you really want to get along with somebody, let them be themselves.
I started out really young, when I was four, five, six, writing poems, before I could play an instrument. I was writing about things when I was eight or 10 years old that I hadn't lived long enough to experience. That's why I also believe in reincarnation, that we were put here with ideas to pass around.
Cruelty is all out of ignorance. If you knew what was in store for you, you wouldn't hurt anybody, because whatever you do comes back much more forceful than you send it out.
I believe that all roads lead to the same place - and that is wherever all roads lead to.
I like to stick with music I know I can play. I love classical, but I don't think I could ever play it. I'm just not qualified.
When I see someone I think is cool, he's a pretty well-adjusted individual. He's not too affected one way or the other by what's happening, no matter what's going through his mind.
I think most people realize that our problems are our government, not me and you individually, except that we can - must have some sort of responsibility, because they're in there and they were elected, so we have to defend ourselves on those lines.
I just enjoy both working and not working. And fortunately, I work enough where I get that out of my system, and then we take a few days off, take a rest.
There's a great enthusiasm for good country music all over the world.
Waylon Jennings and I had a lot of fun recording together.
Three chords and the truth - that's what a country song is.
When you hear me, you know it's me, regardless of the song.
And as far as guitars go, I loved Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West's stuff.
Where I grew up, Bob Wills and his western swing was very popular. And western swing is not that far from jazz and blues.
I am not a pig farmer. The pigs had a great time, but I didn't make any money.
