1.
I have my own religion. I'm sort of one-quarter Baptist, one-quarter Catholic, one-quarter Jewish.
Tom T. Hall
2.
I'm a very comfortable and happy-go-lucky old man. I never wanted to be great, because I'd just get worried.
Tom T. Hall
3.
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.
Tom T. Hall
4.
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.
Tom T. Hall
5.
I love winners when they cry, losers when they try.
Tom T. Hall
6.
Make your melodies simple enough so that the average person can hum them.
Tom T. Hall
7.
I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups, bourbon in a glass, and grass.
Tom T. Hall
8.
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.
Tom T. Hall
9.
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.
Tom T. Hall
10.
After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.
Tom T. Hall
11.
God bless little children while they're still too young to hate.
Tom T. Hall
12.
It's Faster horses, Younger women, Older whiskey and More money.
Tom T. Hall
13.
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.
Tom T. Hall
14.
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.
Tom T. Hall
15.
Religion is a strange, wonderful thing. More crimes have been committed in the name of righteousness than any other notion.
Tom T. Hall
16.
My best album is called In Search Of A Song. That was my best shot right there. My finest hour, as they say. I could listen to the whole thing all the way through. There's nothing really crammed into it.
Tom T. Hall
17.
The way you look for songs, you find yourself looking for little signals and clues about life and how things are.
Tom T. Hall
18.
Songwriting is as much a craft as a talent.
Tom T. Hall
19.
If Barbara Walters was interviewing me, I'd figure her career was as dead as mine!
Tom T. Hall
20.
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.
Tom T. Hall
21.
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.
Tom T. Hall
22.
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.
Tom T. Hall
23.
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.
Tom T. Hall
24.
I had the notion that I wanted to write the great dirty American novel, so I went to Roanoke College on the GI Bill.
Tom T. Hall
25.
I am a fan of history.
Tom T. Hall
26.
The first guy who came up with the concept of religion was sitting out under a tree. I'm sure of that.
Tom T. Hall
27.
I was well traveled, and I created this illusion of literacy through reading and writing. I wrote a book of short stories.
Tom T. Hall
28.
I think the nature of songwriters is that they are philosophers, and philosophers have a bent towards poetry and songwriting, so I think that the two run around together. The nature of a songwriter could be philosophical. Looking for universal ideas, a way to say things, get the story across as a means of entertaining, provoking thought.
Tom T. Hall
29.
She gave her heart to Jethro and her body to the whole wide world.
Tom T. Hall
30.
I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.
Tom T. Hall
31.
Old dogs care about you, even when you make mistakes.
Tom T. Hall
32.
Is this really Butte, Montana, or just existential blues?
Tom T. Hall
33.
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
Tom T. Hall
34.
A song is a poem set to music.
Tom T. Hall
35.
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.
Tom T. Hall
36.
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.
Tom T. Hall
37.
Me and Jesus got our own thing going on. We don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about.
Tom T. Hall
38.
A monkey was the President, though maybe not the first. And there was peace and harmony throughout the universe.
Tom T. Hall
39.
If they want to come out and watch me paint or dig potatoes or mend fences, I don't care. I don't do interviews not because I have anything to hide, but when you retire, the word has a meaning to me. 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.
Tom T. Hall
40.
Sinclair Lewis was asked one time to give a talk to class of students about writing. When he got there he asked the class, Do you people want to be writers?and they all said yes. Then Lewis said, Why the hell aren't you at home writing?
Tom T. Hall
41.
I never hid out. I was never big enough a star.
Tom T. Hall
42.
I knew a lot of chords, but they weren't the chords that came with the melody that came with the idea I had for the song. Melodies are simple things. If you see a train wreck, there's a melody. If you see a little daisy blowing in the breeze, there's a melody.
Tom T. Hall
43.
My theory is if you have a religion, it's a good one. Because some people don't have any at all.
Tom T. Hall
44.
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.
Tom T. Hall
45.
I was quite a reader before I became a writer.
Tom T. Hall
46.
Nobody knows a hit before it's a hit.
Tom T. Hall
47.
People think because you're private, you have something you don't want them to know.
Tom T. Hall