Kris Kristofferson quotes:

Never give up, which is the lesson I learned from boxing. As soon as you learn to never give up, you have to learn the power and wisdom of unconditional surrender, and that one doesn't cancel out the other; they just exist as contradictions. The wisdom of it comes as you get older.

I grew up in a time when people believed in duty, honor and country. My grandfathers were both officers. My father was a General in the Air Force. My brother and I were both in the Army. I've always felt a kinship with soldiers; I think it's possible to support the warrior and be against the war.

The closest I've come to knowing myself is in losing myself. That's why I loved football before I loved music. I could lose myself in it.

I want you to know I'm an Army brat; I was a captain in the Army and my brother was a jet pilot in the Navy. So I support our troops; I identify with them. But I sure as hell don't identify with the bastards who sent them over there.

Just remember that William Blake wasn't even published in his lifetime. Ya gotta keep creating.

Johnny Cash has always been larger than life.

... Johnny Cashs' face belongs on Mount Rushmore ...

I boxed in Golden Gloves at Oxford and still know how to throw a straight left jab.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart. 'Cause that's all that matters in the end.

I feel so lucky to have lived the life that I did and to be surrounded by the people I love. I've got eight kids, and they're always laughing all the time. It's like music to my ears. I think that my frame of mind these days is probably happier than I've ever been, which is kind of odd, coming close to the finish line.

Roy Orbison was one of the genuinely nicest persons I've ever known. With one of the most beautiful voices in the history of recorded music he could easily have had an opera star's ego, but he was one of the humblest, kindest, sweetest human beings to grace this planet. This in spite of the enormous tragedies in his life. A brave, beautiful blessing of a man.

I have no regrets. I feel very grateful for the life that I had - you know, family I live with; and I've been doing work that I love, ever since I came to Nashville.

There are points in your life, especially if you have creative ambitions, where selfishness is necessary.

Bad love is better than no love at all, at least you know you're alive.

I've never forgotten a single record I cut or a song I wrote.

Never's just the echo of forever, lonesome as a love that might have been. Let me go on lovin' and believin' 'til it's over. Please don't tell me how the story ends.

I never thought of acting as a creative process. Christ, I used to go to the movies and see Brando talking like he was trying to sell shoes, and he was great. I thought anybody could do it. Then I tried it, and I got so uptight, I'm limited as to what I can do on film.

Freedom is just another word: It seems to get truer the older I get.

I got scars on my face that tell some kind of story. I'm looking in the mirror, and I got one scar that's really two scars - half from a baseball bat and half from playing football in college. I'll tell you, though, after a while, your face gets so wrinkled up you can hardly see them.

The wolf pack will die when scattered by man, lonesome coyote survives.

I never was one to go into an office and write. For one thing, I had a job. I was cleaning the ashtrays and setting up the studios at Columbia for a couple of years and working every other week down in the Gulf of Mexico flying helicopters. I didn't really get to just write songs for about five years.

Jesus was a Capricorn, he ate organic foods, he believed in love and peace, and never wore no shoes.

You don't paddle against the current, you paddle with it. And if you get good at it, you throw away the oars.

I've had a life of all kinds of experiences - most of them good. And I've got eight kids and a wife that puts up with everything I do and keeps me out of trouble.

If God made anything better than women, I think he kept it for himself.

If God made anything better than women, he kept it for himself.

The one thing I regret is missing the time with my older children when they were young.

Nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free.

I think I'm a much better father as an older man than I was with my first kids. Occasionally, I have to yell at the little guys, but they don't take me seriously. 'Listen to the old guy,' they say. 'Isn't he great? He's mad.'

And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert

As soon as you learn to never give up, you have to learn the power and wisdom of unconditional surrender, and that one doesn't cancel out the other; they just exist as contradictions. The wisdom of it comes as you get older.

Bobby McGee' was the song that made the difference for me. Every time I sing it, I still think of Janis.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.

Gordon Lightfoot has created some of the most beautiful and lasting music of our time. He is Bob Dylan's favorite singer/songwriter - high praise from the best of us, applauded by the rest of us.

His soul was bigger than a body's ought to be.

I don't think I've gotten any smarter, but your reflexes slow down before you do something stupid when you're older.

I grew up in a time when people believed in duty, honor and country. My grandfathers were both officers. My father was a General in the Air Force. My brother and I were both in the Army. Ive always felt a kinship with soldiers; I think its possible to support the warrior and be against the war.

I'd lost my family to my years of failing as a songwriter. All I had were bills, child support, and grief. And I was about to get fired. It looked like I'd trashed my act. But there was something liberating about it. By not having to live up to people's expectations, I was somehow free.

I'd rather be sorry for something I had done than for something I didn't do.

I'd trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday.

If God's got a favorite songwriter, I think it's John Prine.

If you can't get out of something, get into it.

If you're in it because you love it and you have to do it, that's the right reason. If you're in it because you want to get rich or famous, don't do it. People often say that my first years in Nashville, when I wasn't getting anything cut, were tough. Hell, those were great years.

I'll only live 'til I die

I'll probably be writing as long as I'm breathing.

I've been a radical for a long time. I guess it's too bad. I'd be more marketable as a right-wing redneck.

Johnny Cash was the champion of the voiceless, the underdogs and the downtrodden. He was also something of a holy terror, like Abraham Lincoln with a wild side. He represented the best of America.

Johnny Cash's face belongs on Mount Rushmore...I don't write as much as I did back when I was writing songs every day. I've come to know when I've got a good one, although sometimes it takes the world awhile to catch up with me...If you're in it because you love it and you have to do it, that's the right reason. If you're in it because you want to get rich or famous, don't do it.

Peter Cooper looks at the world with an artist's eye and a human heart and soul. His songs are the work of an original, creative imagination, alive with humor and heartbreak and irony and intelligence, with truth and beauty in the details. Deep stuff. And they get better every time you listen to them.

The closest Ive come to knowing myself is in losing myself. Thats why I loved football before I loved music. I could lose myself in it.

The heart is what matters most of all

The number one rule of the road is never go to bed with anyone crazier than yourself. You will break this rule and you will be sorry.

The only reality is in the moment. What you are doing counts.

The world he saw was sadder than the one he hoped to find. But it wasn't near as lonesome as the one he left behind.

There were decades I didn't play sober. I thought, Who would want to? But at some point, I decided that if it was important enough to me to keep doing it as art, I should do it with all my tools.

Well I work up Sunday morning, With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt, And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, So I had one more for dessert. Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes, And found my cleanest dirty shirt. An' I shaved my face and combed my hair, An' stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

When they prove something wrong you believed in so long, you go crazy.

You're the only one that you are screwin', when you put down what you don't understand.

Bombing people for economic reasons is as horrible as killing a pregnant woman.