I never fixed a story. I didn't make judgments, I let the listener make judgments. When I got to the end of the story, if it had a moral, I let the listener find it.

When I first got to Nashville, somebody said that [Kris Kristofferson and I] were the only two people who could describe Dolly Parton without using their hands.

Young kids are doing the same thing I did, but they're doing it differently. They don't do brain surgery the way they used to do it either.

Me and Jesus got our own thing going on. We don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about.

When you retire, it's a place in life, a part of the journey. You just don't quit work; you develop an attitude where you can do what you please

It is so important for me to try, and having tried I look back on failure and success as if it were all the same.

I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.