A song doesn't just come on. I've always had to tease it out, squeeze it out. 'No thesaurus can give you those words, no rhyming dictionary. They must happen out of you.

The man in our society is the breadwinner; the woman has enough to do as the homemaker, wife and mother.

Grab your coat, and get your hat Leave your worry on the doorstep Just direct your feet To the sunny side of the street.

Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again.

A songwriter should have friends who are similarly interested; should move about in the milieu of work he has chosen for himself.

No matter where I run, I meet myself there.

Love is the reason for it all.

Keep it in tune with the times, but don't write with the specific purpose of trying to create a hit. If you're doing it strictly to make money, you're crazy. There are easier ways to make money.

There aren't more lady songwriters for the same reason that there aren't more lady doctors or lady accountants or lady lawyers; not enough women have the time for careers.

A song must move the story ahead. A song must take the place of dialogue. If a song halts the show, pushes it back, stalls it, the audience won't buy it; they'll be unhappy.

Twenty years from now you will be disappointed you never used Cosmic Ordering today.

Never forget the life experiences

Fans are what make a performer and I've always taken them seriously.

I carry your kindness wherever I go. That way your love touches far more than just me.

Be grateful for every moment and every breath.

There are people in your life who've come and gone, they let you down and hurt your pride. Better put it all behind you, life goes on, you keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside.

In art as in life, form and subject, body and soul, are one.

In the end there doesn't have to be anyone who understands you. There just has to be someone who wants to.

There never was a man on earth who pitched as much as me. But the more I pitched, the stronger my arm would get.

Scotland: That garret of the earth - that knuckle-end of England - that land of Calvin, oatcakes, and sulfur.