“Gospel music was the thing that inspired me as a child growing up on a cotton farm, where work was drudgery and it was so hard that when I was in the field I sang all the time.”

People call me wild. Not really though, I’m not. I guess I’ve never been normal, not what you call Establishment. I’m country.

When you sing, you pray twice.

As sure as God made black and white, what’s done in the dark will be brought to the light.

Being rich means you get to worry about everything except money.

For you I know I’d even try to turn the tide.

It’s good to know who hates you and it is good to be hated by the right people.

I have tried drugs and a little of everything else, and there is nothing in the world more soul-satisfying than having the kingdom of God building inside you and growing.

All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate. I choose love.

I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion — against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.

Life is rough so you gotta be tough.

I don’t give up because I don’t give up. I don’t believe in it.

You miss a lot of opportunities by making mistakes, but that’s part of it: knowing that you’re not shut out forever, and that there’s a goal you still can reach.

I just hope and pray I can die with my boots on.

The beast in me Is caged by frail and fragile bars.

I love the freedoms we got in this country, I appreciate your freedom to burn your flag if you want to, but I really appreciate my right to bear arms so I can shoot you if you try to burn mine.

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone.

My childhood years were a balance of dark and light.

God takes pleasure to see you take your little steps; and like a good father who holds his child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry?

One thing I know for sure about raising children is that every single day a kid needs discipline. But also every single day a kid needs a break.

When the kids are laughing in the audience, I tear up, I’m so happy I did a nice thing.

My mother often says that she could never have done it if I had been the youngest, if she had other small children she had to cart around New York City for my auditions and go-sees (modeling auditions) and stuff.

With the amount of money I have, it’s difficult raising children the way I was raised.

Listen kid, take my advice, never hate a song that has sold half a million copies.

I wasn’t a kid growing up thinking, ‘One day I’ll get an Oscar and make a speech.’ That wasn’t on my mind.