My wife is cool enough to let me write about personal things, to be a songwriter exploring the shadowy sides of love.

I have been waiting a long time for this. It's been my dream forever. Now that it's a reality, I love it. I haven't been burnt out at all and I have a bunch of guys with me that feel the same way.

I'm thinking of you, that's all I do, all the time. You're always the first and the last thing on this heart of mine. No matter where I go, or what I do, I'm thinking of you.

I'm always looking for things that make me kind of uncomfortable.

When I was 13, I was just figuring out how to play 'Eruption,' poorly, by Eddie Van Halen.

You cant write about stuff you dont know about. You have to live it. You have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Live life to be a good songwriter.

I'm a member of the George Jones fan club, and I'm a member of U2's fan club.

I also was a huge 'Dukes of Hazzard' fan. I used to have T-shirts that said 'Dierks of Hazzard' custom-made.

My dad and grandpa were in the army and as a country singer you're constantly playing at military bases all across the country and meeting soldiers and their families and hearing their stories.

Country music has always been the best shrink that 15 bucks can buy.

I'm a huge fan of Billy Idol. I spiked my hair every day like him in 7th and 8th grade.

You have to have courage to begin anything. Without courage and enthusiasm, there is nothing.

Darkness swallows everything, even pain. That’s what makes it so tempting. Comforting. It disguises weakness as strength.

When we feel the clown, when we have been played, if we have lived by heart, acted out of compassion, we are the substance of the play, rather than merely being played.

You're going to fall down, but the world doesn't care how many times you fall down, as long as it's one fewer than the numbers of times you get back up.

I think I've already got the main thing I've always wanted, which is to be somebody, to have an identify. I'm Althea Gibson, the tennis champion. I hope it makes me happy.

It is a rare and high privilege to be in a position to help people understand the differences that they can make not only in their own lives but in the lives of others by simply giving of themselves.

I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever.

I would say on a creative level I put a lot of pressure on myself.

I also write the last paragraph or page of a story first. That way I always know what I'm working towards.

Death is the greatest evil, because it cuts off hope.