Tom T. Hall Quotes

I have my own religion. I'm sort of one-quarter Baptist, one-quarter Catholic, one-quarter Jewish.

I'm a very comfortable and happy-go-lucky old man. I never wanted to be great, because I'd just get worried.

Whiskey's to tough, Champagne costs too much, Vodka puts my mouth in gear. I hope this refrain, Will help me explain, As a matter of fact, I like beer.

The best compliment I ever had is, one day I was in Nashville, some disc jockey said, Hey, that sounds like a Tom T. Hall song. Up until then there hadn't been any such thing.

I love winners when they cry, losers when they try.

Make your melodies simple enough so that the average person can hum them.

I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups, bourbon in a glass, and grass.

When I first got to Nashville, somebody said that [Kris Kristofferson and I] were the only two people who could describe Dolly Parton without using their hands.

I took up a sort of a hobby of just hanging around the local library. I'd pick out an author and I would read all their books.

After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.

God bless little children while they're still too young to hate.

It's Faster horses, Younger women, Older whiskey and More money.

I never fixed a story. I didn't make judgments, I let the listener make judgments. When I got to the end of the story, if it had a moral, I let the listener find it.

Young kids are doing the same thing I did, but they're doing it differently. They don't do brain surgery the way they used to do it either.

I had the notion that I wanted to write the great dirty American novel, so I went to Roanoke College on the GI Bill.

This generation should entertain this generation. It's only fair. When I was a kid, I mowed the lawn. Now, somebody else's kid can mow the lawn.

I've been polite and I've always shown up. Somebody asked me if I had any advice for young people entering the business. I said: "Yeah, show up.

I don't know why songwriters struggle. They have to, I guess. If you're a young songwriter, quit struggling. It makes you look bad.

The first time with artistic endeavors is, if it's working, it was your idea, and if it's not, it's somebody else's idea.

I am a fan of history.

If Barbara Walters was interviewing me, I'd figure her career was as dead as mine!

Songwriting is as much a craft as a talent.

The way you look for songs, you find yourself looking for little signals and clues about life and how things are.

The first guy who came up with the concept of religion was sitting out under a tree. I'm sure of that.

I was well traveled, and I created this illusion of literacy through reading and writing. I wrote a book of short stories.

Religion is a strange, wonderful thing. More crimes have been committed in the name of righteousness than any other notion.

She gave her heart to Jethro and her body to the whole wide world.

I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.

Is this really Butte, Montana, or just existential blues?

Old dogs care about you, even when you make mistakes.

Nobody knows a hit before it's a hit.

People think because you're private, you have something you don't want them to know.

I never hid out. I was never big enough a star.

The enticing allure of Nashville is that there is always something new coming down the pike. Put this record on and you’ll hear footsteps.

My theory is if you have a religion, it's a good one. Because some people don't have any at all.

I was quite a reader before I became a writer.

A monkey was the President, though maybe not the first. And there was peace and harmony throughout the universe.

Me and Jesus got our own thing going on. We don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about.

It used to be that youd have a song recorded by a major country artist and if it was a hit, you could buy a car. Now you can buy a dealership.

It is so important for me to try, and having tried I look back on failure and success as if it were all the same.

A song is a poem set to music.

When you retire, it's a place in life, a part of the journey. You just don't quit work; you develop an attitude where you can do what you please

I've been polite and I've always shown up. Somebody asked me if I had any advice for young people entering the business. I said: "Yeah show up."