When I was young, I just sat down and started playing Chopsticks at the piano. I got so far and then lost interest. Eventually, I regained it and started writing songs.

I used to go down every year for the remembrance of Elvis' birthday. Memphis State College invited me to sit in the auditorium and speak to the people for one of those Elvis days.

I like this town, it's really great. They've put me in The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. This town is about music. It's about the kind of music I like.

I used to be with a publishing house called Roosevelt Music. A gentleman there told me he had seen Peggy Lee perform Fever in Las Vegas and I found out later she wanted to record it.

I'd hate to be a songwriter starting a career today.

When I started writing it was kind of hard getting people to do my stuff. They' say they couldn't do my style.

You are in a much better position to serve others when your basic needs are met and your “tank is full”.

Find out what people want to do, then tell them to do it. They'll think you're a genius.

Never let your negative circumstances blindfold you from seeing your daily blessings. There is always something to be thankful for in your life. Being alive is absolutely one of them.

I'm nothing if not an optimist.

We were talking to shop owners or ordinary people who were living in these buildings now. A lot of the Olympic Villages were turned into housing.

All progress and growth is a matter of change, but change must be growth within our social and government concepts if it should not destroy them.

The coal industry is an even larger part of the Australian economy than it is of the American, and it has an enormous amount of political power.

I started getting orders from some of the leading stores Fred Segal, Bergdorf Goodman. I realized then that my bags were being noticed by the fashion world.

The central paradox and challenge of marriage is that we have to make family out of someone we're not related to.

It's man's impact on our world that appeals to me more than just nature running wild.