“If you just do 50 to 60 shows a year, it’s not that much time away from home.”

The loop down through there is just really relaxing, not much traffic.

You have to be tough-skinned and willing to accept criticism, and at the same time.

And just about anybody you can think of who has made country music has been on that stage. That’s what makes you so nervous.

I’m just looking for a mixture of songs and topics that aren’t the same thing over and over.

Oklahoma’s always been good to me.

You think a lot of people get to be big stars and get a little crazy.

Making music is still what keeps a fire going on in me.

I think I’ve always approached making albums pretty much the same way.

The older you are, I think you realize what you enjoy and what you don’t need, what wears you out and what’s important.

But most of the ones I’ve ever met have always been surprisingly normal, and I’ve enjoyed that.

Just try to do music that you like and you are proud of and not just whatever you think it’s going to take to get you on the radio.

Everybody always thinks that. But in just about every album I’ve ever had has been about 50-50 songs I’ve written or co-written and other people’s songs.

I don’t like politics, hypocrites, folks with poodles.

Growing up in Georgia, I used to think people up north or out west were so different. They’re really not.

You just write about things that happen.

Looks can go, fads can go, but a good song lasts forever.

I think what I realized is that I can’t believe I made it to 50 years old.

Villains are a ball. People have been laughing at me for 50 years, so I love to sit in the back of the theater and listen to them hate me.

I probably write a poem every 50 years.

Fifty percent of the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their classes.

Every Friday I used to have about fifty, sixty kids who would wait for me on Sunset Boulevard and I’d take them all to dinner. All runaways.

I have had 50 drinks in one go!

There were fifty-four women and forty little boys with the Red Army prisoners, and I went daily to take care of them also.

You know, an hour and fifty-four minutes is too much for audiences. They get nervous.