Tim McGraw quotes:

When I was a kid, my step dad started this business and would go out and get lost cows and stuff. He was part-time truck driver, farmer and cowboy. He taught me how to ride from an early age.

The issues that matter to me are the social safety nets for people, health care, middle-class concerns. We need to take care of the middle class and the poor in our country.

You know not having my real dad around and having a step dad made me want to be a great dad. So now I have been one for 9 years. And now 3 daughters. So, that is what I am - a dad, first and foremost, before anything else. It's just something that comes natural now.

I love Bill Clinton. I think we should make him king. I'm talking the red robe, the turkey leg - everything.

Everyone should have their own opinion and be able to voice it. No matter what it is. Of course, that does not mean your opinion is always right. But, you're certainly entitled to your opinion.

One of the most memorable live performances of my career took place on the 2002 American Music Awards show when I had to the opportunity to sing with Elton John. I was moved by the way he played the piano onstage.

It's innate in me to be a Democrat - a true Southern populist kind of Democrat. There's not a lot of those anymore. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong. That's just the way I feel.

I'm coming up on 40 next year, and after making so many records and doing music for so long, I'm looking for a change and a different perspective. And every now and then, I think I have something I want to say.

I didn't want to play a rancher. I didn't want to have a cowboy hat on; I wanted to get away from that in the things I do. But I read the script and fell in love with it. As hard as I tried to say no, I couldn't.

I want to run for the Senate from Tennessee . Not now, but when I'm 50, when music dies down a little bit. I know lots of artists and actors have those delusions of grandeur, but ever since I was a kid, it's been of interest to me.

Like an old photograph, time can make a feeling fade, but the memory of a first love never fades away.

I have three daughters, so I can't be as tough as I want to be. When you have kids - especially daughters - they know how to work you. They're a lot smarter than we are, that's for sure. But I'll be more tough on their boyfriends.

But I was so wrapped up in sports growing up as a kid, that I think I was going to grow to be a pro ball player. But I found out real quick that was not going to happen.

Five years ago I figured we were at the top of our game and that was the best it was going to get, but with every album it seems to keep on building on itself.

I mean, I grew up riding. I can't ever remember not being able to ride or rope and all that stuff. It was part of my life growing up, so it was fun for me.

But, yea, I grew up in a strong Baptist background.

And we carry onWhen our lives come undoneWe carry onCause there's promise in the morning sunWe carry onAs the dark surrenders to the dawnWe were born to overcomeWe carry onBeyond the picket fences and the oil wellsThe happy endings and the fairy talesIs the reality of shattered lives and broken dreamsWe carry on

No, there will come a time where I'm not gonna do this anymore. I mean, there will come a time, definitely, where I'll turn into Elvis - I'm gonna be fat and fishin', I guarantee you.

We're parents first, and once you have kids, everybody knows that you have priority lists. Number one is your family and everything else just kind of finds its place.

Country radio went through a time where they were trying to pigeonhole everybody, and trying to make the gap really narrow, and I think that they've opened that up a little bit.

Love can sort of rebound and regrow and reinvent itself around a lot of things, but when somebody can't forgive themself for something, I think love sort of withers in that situation.

One of the most basic things we can do is let the men in our lives know it's not okay to mistreat a woman.

I always want to learn but I am sure on my dying day I will feel like I left something in the bucket.

I love my wife more than anything in the world, but boy when she had our babies, it quadrupled. There's just something about the connection.

I'm actually not an exhibitionist at all. When you get onstage and you get under the lights playing music, I feel more hidden and more alone than anywhere else. You hide behind your music and let your emotions come out through the music.

We're very blessed, just very fortunate to have the things we have.

I coach my daughter's softball and basketball team. We go to all the school functions. We go out to eat at night and take the kids to the movies. We try to be as normal as we can.

I think country music is really one of the biggest genres of music out there and one the most successful genres.

I don't know where I'd be without you here with me. Life with you makes perfect sense. You're my best friend.

I mean, there's a little bit that gets out, but for the most part, the thing that makes us work, and makes our family successful, and our life successful, is when we walk home and we walk into our doors of our house, all that other stuff is left outside. It's not a factor.

I think the best thing, or the greatest thing my girls have going for them, is having their mother as a role model,

Sometimes, I am my own worst enemy.

We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everyhwere.

You stand by me, and you believe in me like nobody ever has. When my world goes crazy, you're right there to save me. You make me see how much I have.

Better than I was, more than I am And all of this happen by taking your hand And who I am now is who I wanted to be And now that we're together I'm stronger than ever I'm happy and free

I love producing. I have been producing some acts and starting a label.

I'm a private guy, and you don't want to be out there preaching to people. But faith leads you in the decisions you make. You don't always pick the right path, but it's there in your conscience.

I don't want to make that sound like I'm preaching from a mountain top when I say you have to give your family everything, because I know it's hard for people. I'm lucky to be in a position where you can establish those ground rules and make it that way.

I think you have to be a little bit strict. You can't be friend and their parent in a lot of situations, especially in this day and age where it's so dangerous for kids. So there's a bit of sternness, I guess, in the way I raise my kids.

I live in a house with four women. Just shut up and say, Yes, ma'am.

Art's for art. Money's for pizza.

Better than I was, more than I am. And all of this happened by taking your hand.

Carry on, carry on, what don't kill us makes us strong.

Critics who attack my wife bug me. It makes me want to pay 'em a visit so I could give 'em a good punch in the nose.

Down to my last dime and coming apart at the seams. I'm messed up in Mexico, living on refried dreams.

For me, there's a tremendous challenge of singing with Faith, who, in my opinion is one of the best singers in the world. She doesn't get enough credit for being as good as she is. She's so beautiful that people look past her singing. But for a journeyman like me to keep up with her is a real tough sprint.

I ain't as good as I'm gonna get, but I'm better than I used to be.

I am heartbroken by the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in my home state. Like so many Americans I am watching the news reports with great sadness. But it's at times like these that each of us must work together to provide lifesaving aid to those in terrible need.

I don't even trust myself in my career much less giving somebody else advice.

I feel like that I'm learning all the time. I'm learning from new artists, from established artists... every time I listen to '70s rock 'n' roll records, I'm learning. And I think that I'm just now starting to get a hold on what I do.

I get ticked off a lot because I don't think she [Faith Hill] gets the respect she deserves. I tell her all the time, "If you were 300 pounds and dog ugly, people would think you were the greatest singer in the world." They have the tendency to look at her and never really listen to her. The reason it works is she's a fantastic artist. It's almost embarrassing for me to sing with her sometimes.

I guess some things never change.

I let down my guard and my heart was as good as gone.

I like the values in Flicka, and I wanted to do a movie my kids could see and be proud of.

I live in a house with four women. Just shut up and say, Yes ma'am.

I may be a real bad boy, but baby I'm a real good man.

I mean as long as I have been doing music I know I am only 30% of what I could be and want to be.

I still got a few more dances with the devil.

I think country music is about honesty. Any art has to have honesty to start with, as the core of it. I mean, they're just going to manipulate you in one way or the other, but there has to honesty at the core of it.

I think of myself as a serious artist. Sometimes you can get in your head too much about that and forget that you have to have fun. I've been guilty in my career about that at times. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought I didn't want anybody else to have a hit with it!

I try not to worry about other people's music. But if there's one thing that I hear these days, it's that people try and put [music] down so tight that they take all the color out of it.

I try to walk on the sunny side of the street.

I worked so hard for that first kiss, and a heart don't forget.

If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I wouldn't jump with them, I'd be at the bottom to catch them. Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say.

If you don't feel comfortable with the Red Cross, anything that you feel comfortable sending money to -- that you know is going to get to the hurricane victims -- send money. Because that's what you can do to help. And a lot of prayers. Lots of prayers.

I'm probably the most uncool guy that [my daughters] know-as far as they are concerned anyway-'cause I'm Dad. I mean dads just aren't cool-especially when I dance! They don't want me to dance.

I'm running out of places I can run, looking for a place in the sun.

It saddens me to think that there are children in America who are hungry every day of their lives. No one can live - and grow - withoiut such a fundamental necessity as food. If we Americans reach out to our own communities, we could end this crisis.

It's innate in me to be a blue-dog Democrat. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong, but that's what I am. My wife and I and our family will do everything we can to support Obama. I like his ideas, I like his energy, and I like the statement he would make for our country to the world.

It's innate in me to be a Democrat - a true Southern populist kind of Democrat. There's not a lot of those anymore. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong. That's just the way I feel. The issues that matter to me are the social safety nets for people, health care, middle-class concerns. We need to take care of the middle class and the poor in our country. The chasm is getting larger between haves and have nots, and that's something we need to close down a little bit.

Like I say, I'm always writing and if something sticks, it sticks. I get to write with great songwriters in town. Lori McKenna is one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters who's ever walked the planet. I get to write with her. The Warren Brothers are friends of mine and I write with them all the time. Lance Miller is a great songwriter. Tom Douglas - you can't get any better than that. I write a lot of stuff but it's got to stick.

Look deep inside the eyes of a woman, see the man you want to be.

Loving a man shouldn't have to be this rough

Man, I didn't think I stood a chance. I mean, she was way out of my league.she still is.

My mom is my hero. [She] inspired me to dream when I was a kid, so anytime anyone inspires you to dream, that's gotta be your hero.

People always ask me "Son what does it take To reach out and touch your dreams?" To them I always say Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Is it a fire that burns you up inside? How bad do you want it? How bad do you need it? Are you eating, sleeping, dreaming With that one thing on your mind? How bad do you want it? How bad do you need it? Cause if you want it all You've got to lay it all out on the line.

People get out of music what they want to get out of it, and all I try to do is do the same thing.

She said I bet you dont remember me And I said only every other memory.

Some say it's too country, some say it's too rock n' roll. But it's just good music if you can feel it in your soul.

Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.

Sun on my shoulders and the wind at my back, bound and determined to get back on track to where the heart is..where it's been all along.

The face that's in the mirror when I don't like what I see / I guess that's just the cowboy in me,

The trouble with never is never, never works.

The way he shook his hips up there on that stage, but before that fateful day when he left Tennessee all of them were calling him the King.

There ain't no troubles that we can't rise above, with a handful of faith and a heartful of love.

There will come a time where I'm not gonna do this anymore. I mean, there will come a time, definitely, where I'll turn into Elvis I'm gonna be fat and fishin', I guarantee you.

There's a tear in his eye that refuses to fall. If it would land on me, that would say it all.

There's rises and falls and ups and downs in all music.

We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.

We ride and never worry 'bout the fall. Guess that's just the cowboy in us all.

What are you doing son, you're gonna drive yourself insane. You'll never find the sunshine, when you're following the rain.

When all is said and done, I'd never count the cost. It's worth all that's lost, just to see you smile.

When all our tears have reached the sea, part of you will live in me.

When I first started, I was really nervous. You could hear my voice quiver. So I started drinking a bit and that helped. A lot of entertainers have a few drinks before going onstage and don't overdo it. Me, it turned into a bigger habit. But I stopped that. I was getting older, and I was thinking about my kids. There's enough roadblocks out there without throwing in more yourself.

When you touch and change peoples lives with a song, that's when you've made it as an artist

You do what you do and you pay for your sins and there's no such thing as what might have been.

You know, we're very private, and I think that we really separate and try to keep our privacy to ourselves. There's things that people assume a lot of times, and we understand that people are interested, but we really try to keep our family life private as much as we can.