When God forgave me, I figured I'd better do it too.

Children, all your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate... I choose love.

Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money.

A person knows when it just seems to feel right to them. Listen to your heart.

The Master of Life's been good to me. He has given me strength to face past illnesses, and victory in the face of defeat. He has given me life and joy where others saw oblivion. He has given new purposes to live for. New services to render and old wounds to heal. Life and love go on. Let the music play.

The best way to say anything is just to say it.

If you aren't gonna say exactly how and what you feel, you might as well not say anything at all.

I am not a Christian artist, I am an artist who is a Christian.

Compassion is something I have a lot of, because I've been through a lot of pain in my life. Anybody who has suffered a lot of pain has a lot of compassion.

You can ask the people around me. I don't give up. I don't give up... and it's not out of frustration and desperation that I say I don't give up. I don't give up because I don't give up. I don't believe in it. (26 November 2002)

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash. Opening lines at many of his public appearances.

I did not vote for Mr. Bush, let's leave it at that. On George W. Bush

I wouldn't let anybody influence me into thinking I was doing the wrong thing by singing about death, hell and drugs. Because I've always done that, and I always will.

I learn from my mistakes. It's a very painful way to learn, but without pain, the old saying is, there's no gain.

I just want to be remembered as a good daddy.

How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man.

Every possession is just another stick to beat yourself with.

I think it speaks to our basic fundamental feelings, you know. Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.

I'm not bitter. Why should I be bitter? I'm thrilled to death with life. Life is — the way God has given it to me was just a platter — a golden platter of life laid out there for me. It's been beautiful. (26 November 2002)

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way.

You've got a song you're singing from your gut, you want that audience to feel it in their gut. And you've got to make them think that you're one of them sitting out there with them too. They've got to be able to relate to what you're doing.

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone; close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space. If you analyse it as you're moving forward, you'll never fall in the same trap twice, which I can't say that I haven't been guilty of doing. But my advice is, if they're going to break your legs once when you go in that place, stay out of there.

My Mama always said she wanted her roses while she was living... not after she was gone. That's why everyone should always honour their mother and father. No matter how much you may disagree with their beliefs, those that have lived longer than us always have something to teach us, that we can take with us for the rest of our lives.

If you don't get outside every day, even for a minute, you have not appreciated what God has done. It makes you grateful for our surroundings, and it starts your day differently.

I haven't had any particular direction in my music. I just do it the way I feel it at the time.