Prisoners are the greatest audience that an entertainer can perform to.
The beer and the wurst were wonderful, but I was dying to be back in the South, where the livin' was easy, where the fish were jumpin', where the cotton grew high.
If I'm anything, I'm not a singer but I'm a song stylist.
Every week, Dennis Day sang an old Irish folk song. And next day in the fields, I'd be singing that song if I was working in the fields.
A person knows when it just seems to feel right to them. Listen to your heart.
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.
Why me, Lord? What have I ever done to deserve even one of the blessings I've known? Why me, Lord? What did I ever do that was worth love from you and the kindness you've shown? Lord, help me, Jesus, I've wasted it so. Help me, Jesus. I know what I am. Now that I know that I've needed you so, help me, Jesus. My soul's in your hand.
I am not a Christian artist, I am an artist who is a Christian.
You're so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good.
You can ask the people around me. I don't give up. I don't give up. I don't give - and it's not out of frustration and desperation that I say I don't give up. I don't give up because I don't give up. I don't believe in it.
No matter how much you've sinned, no matter how much you've stumbled, no matter how much you fall, no matter how far you've got from God, don't give up. You can still be redeemed. As someone says, keep the faith.
Loneliness is emptiness, but happiness is you.
I'm thankful for a pair of shoes that feel really good on my feet; I like my shoes. I'm thankful for the birds; I feel like they're singing just for me when I get up in the morning... Saying, 'Good morning, John. You made it, John.' I'm thankful for the sea breeze that feels so good right now, and the scent of jasmine when the sun starts going down. I'm thankful.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, But is there because he's a victim of the times. I wear the black for those who never read
Burn my Flag and I will shoot you........but I'll shoot you with a lot of love, like a good American
The beast in me Is caged by frail and fragile bars.
I knew that when I left there at the age of 18, I wouldn't be back. And it was common knowledge among all the people there that when you graduate from high school here, you go to college or go get a job or something and do it on your own.
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.
It's like a novelist writing far out things. If it makes a point and makes sense, then people like to read that. But if it's off in left field and goes over the edge, you lose it. The same with musical talent, I think.
It makes me so mad that some people underestimate the wisdom and energy of young people. All because they don't look the way older folks think they should look. I'm working on a song about it. Maybe some of those closed minded people will realize long hair and tattoos don't mean they should be ignored. Close minded people are part of what's wrong with this world.
Happiness is being at peace, being with loved ones, being comfortable...but most of all, it's having those loved ones.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red, and some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head. I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.
As sure as God made black and white, what's done in the dark will be brought to the light.
Life and love go on, let the music play.
Backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, I got on my knees and told her that I was going to marry her some day. We were both married to someone else at the time. ‘Ring Of Fire’—June and Merle Kilgore wrote that song for me-that’s the way our love affair was. We fell madly in love and we worked together all the time, toured together all the time, and when the tour was over we both had to go home to other people. It hurt.
There's a lot of things blamed on me that never happened. But then, there's a lot of things that I did that I never got caught at.
The more I learn, the more excited I get.
Being rich means you get to worry about everything except money.
All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate…I choose love.
There's no way around grief and loss: you can dodge all you want, but sooner or later you just have to go into it, through it, and, hopefully, come out the other side. The world you find there will never be the same as the world you left.
I'm not bitter. Why should I be bitter? I'm thrilled to death with life.
Rick Rubin said, well, I don't know that we will sell records. He said, I would like you to go with me and sit in my living room with a guitar and two microphones and just sing to your heart's content everything you ever wanted to record. I said, that sounds good to me. So I did that. And day after day, three weeks, I sang for him.
I learn from my mistakes. It’s a very painful way to learn, but without pain, the old saying is, there’s no gain.
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.
That was American Recordings. I said, I like the name, maybe it'd be OK. So I said, I'd like to meet the guy [Rick Rubin ].I'd like for him to tell me what he can do with me that they're not doing now.
The gospel of Christ must always be an open door with a welcome sign for all.
The ones that you're calling wild are going to be the leaders in a little while.
Those that have lived longer than us always have something to teach us, that we can take with us for the rest of our lives.
When you sing, you pray twice.
All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love positivity and gratitude that things aren't worse or hate negativity and bitterness that things aren't better ...I choose love positivity and gratitude that things aren't worse.
A rose looks grey at midnight, but the flame is just asleep. And steel is strong because it knows the hammer and white heat.
The things that have always been important: to be a good man, to try to live my life the way God would have me, to turn it over to Him that His will might be worked in my life, to do my work without looking back, to give it all I've got, and to take pride in my work as an honest performer.
Life is - the way God has given it to me was just a platter - a golden platter of life laid out there for me. It's been beautiful.
Life is the question and life is the answer, and God is the reason and love is the way.
If you're going to be a Christian, you're going to change. You're going to lose some old friends, not because you want to, but because you need to.
We're all in this together if we're in it at all.
I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way.
It takes a real man to live for God-a lot more man than to live for the devil, you know? If you really want to live right these days, you gotta be tough.
When God forgave me, I figured I'd better do it too.
I start a lot more songs than I finish, because I realize when I get into them, they're no good. I don't throw them away, I just put them away, store them, get them out of sight.
Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkly clothes, and cowboy boots. I decided to wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I did and I've worn black clothes ever since.
If you aren't gonna say exactly how and what you feel, you might as well not say anything at all.
I love Bob Dylan, I really do. I love his early work, I love the first time he plugged in electrically, I love his Christian albums, I love his other albums.
Flesh and blood needs flesh and blood, and you're the one I need
I'm not really concerned about boundaries. I just follow my conscience and my heart. Follow your heart. That's what I do. Compassion is something I have a lot of, because I've been through a lot of pain in my life. Anybody who has suffered a lot of pain has a lot of compassion.
I love songs about horses, railroads, land, Judgment Day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And Mother. And God.
I just hope and pray I can die with my boots on.
I don't give up because I don't give up. I don't believe in it.
Inside the walls of a prison my body may be, but my Lord has set my soul free.
Well, I take great comfort in the words of the apostle Paul who said, ‘What I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do.’ And he said, ‘It is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. But who,’ he asks, ‘will deliver me from this body of death?’ And he answers for himself and for me, ‘Through Jesus Christ the Lord.'
Because you're mine, I walk the line.
When I think about country music, I think about America.
There is a spiritual side to me that goes real deep, but I confess right up front that I'm the biggest sinner of them all.
Death and hell are never full, and neither are men's eyes.
How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man.
When I was arrested I was dressed in black
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town.
They're powerful, those songs. At times they've been my only way back, the only door out of the dark, bad places the black dog calls home.
People ask me who is my favorite country artist. I say, you mean besides George Jones.
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine I keep my eyes wide open all the time I keep the ends out for the tie that binds Because you're mine, I walk the line.
Take one fresh and tender kiss Add one stolen night of bliss One girl, one boy, some grief, some joy Memories are made of this.
Get rhythm when you get the blues.
I've never been accused of a felony. I never spent time behind bars except for a few overnight jail times back in the Sixties. [But] I think there's a little bit of a criminal in all of us. Everybody's done something they don't want anybody to know about.
You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way.
Beneath the stains of time the feeling disappears, you are someone else I am still right here.
After about three lessons [my] voice teacher said, "Don't take voice lessons. Do it your way. You're a song stylist. Always do it your way."
You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone.
If you have political convictions... keep 'em to yourself
Help me, Jesus. I know what I am.
Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.
We'll all be equal under the grass, and God's got a heaven for country trash.
There's unconditional love there. You hear that phrase a lot but it's real with me and her [June Carter]. She loves me in spite of everything, in spite of myself. She has saved my life more than once. She's always been there with her love, and it has certainly made me forget the pain for a long time, many times. When it gets dark and everybody's gone home and the lights are turned off, it's just me and her.
When I was 17 - 16, my father and I cut wood all day long and I was swinging that crosscut saw and hauling wood.
The Master of Lifes been good to me. He has given me strength to face past illnesses, and victory in the face of defeat. He has given me life and joy where other saw oblivion. He Has given new purpose to live for, new services to render and old wounds to heal. Life and love go on, let the music play.
You have to be what you are. Whatever you are, you gotta be it.
You've got a song you're singing from your gut, you want that audience to feel it in their gut. And you've got to make them think that you're one of them sitting out there with them too. They've got to be able to relate to what you're doing.
I recently found myself going through a period of uncertainty about my future as a performer, my status as a personality, the believability of my Christian witness and the knowledge of God's will in my life. I felt a force bigger than myself saying, 'Lay back. Take it easy. Study hard. Read your bible. Think, write and keep your mouth shut for awhile.'
Everything I have and everything I do is now given completely to Jesus Christ.
it's good to know who hates you and it is good to be hated by the right people
Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money.
I keep my eyes wide open all the time.
Stop your ears and close your eyes and try to find the face of love.
When I was a baby, my mama told me son, always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns. But I shot a man in Reno.
Oh, I'd love to wear a rainbow everyday, And tell the world that everything's okay, But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back, Till things are brighter, I'm the Man in Black.
The battle against the dark one and the clinging to the right one is what my life is about.
I've always explored various areas of society. And I love the young people. And I had an empathy for prisoners and did concerts for them back when I thought that it would make a difference - you know? - that they really were there to be rehabilitated.
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. Usually gospel songs because they lifted me up above that black dirt.
Until things are brighter.. I'm the man in black.
Six foot six he stood on the ground He weighed two hundred and thirty-five pounds But I saw that giant of a man brought down To his knees by love
I knew I wanted to sing when I was a very small boy. When I was probably 4 years old. My mother played a guitar and I would sit with her and she would sing and I learned to sing along with her.
God Ain't no stained glass window, cause he never keeps his window closed.
It's good to believe in yourself, but there are people out there who can make or break you.
I knew Bob Dylan was searching for the truth and had been for years. And anyone who Really wants the truth ends up at Jesus
I read novels but I also read the Bible. And study it, you know? And the more I learn, the more excited I get.
Come on boys, you must listen unto me, lay off the whiskey and let that cocaine be.
I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way.
Creative people have to be fed from the divine source. I have to get fed. I had to get filled up in order to pour out.
The fire and excitement may be gone now that we don't go out there and sing them anymore, but the ring of fire still burns around you and I, keeping our love hotter than a pepper sprout.
Don't take voice lessons. Do it your way.
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.
I'm thrilled to death with life.
I came to believe in a power much higher than I
God gives us life and takes us away as He sees fit.
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide.
My arms are too short to box with God.
Jesus will not fail me, I shall not be moved.
You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
All music comes from God.
When I'm gone I'll be remembered as the workin' man who put his point across with a right hand full of knuckles.
I had a song called "Folsom Prison Blues" that was a hit just before "I Walk The Line." And the people in Texas heard about it at the state prison and got to writing me letters asking me to come down there. So I responded and then the warden called me and asked if I would come down and do a show for the prisoners in Texas.
Sam Phillips always encouraged me to do it my way, to use whatever other influences I wanted, but never to copy...if there hadn't been a Sam Phillips, I might still be working in a cotton field.
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.
Life is rough so you gotta be tough.
Deep in the heart of the infinite darkness, a tiny blue marble is spinning through space. Born in the splendor of God's holy vision, and sliding away like a tear down his face.
Love is a burning thing and it makes a firey ring.
