Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I've got lots of problems. Being gay isn't one of them. "

Related Quotes:

" I did not know that the wounds of war are often invisible. "

" Ultimately, what I want is for my songs to outlive me: I want my songs to keep being played even after I'm gone. "

" I've learned our soldiers are so much like everybody else. They're just put into an extreme situation. "

" I knew I had that Cajun heritage, that Acadian heritage; I just feel it. And my gut says Irish on the other side. Irish and French, that's what I feel. When you're young, it doesn't matter so much, but as you get older, I would suspect part of the ageing process is to wonder about your ancestors - who were they? What were their lives like? "

" I think we're very much in a mystery here in this life and that artists try to pierce the mystery with their art. "

" There's a lot of vulnerability in songs - I'm not talking about pop songs - from people that are in the art of songwriting more than the commercial enterprise of it. "

" In my early years, I couldn't find a community. I couldn't find anybody like me. I felt so isolated. There was nothing but shame and loneliness. "

" They send women into combat without being prepared for women in combat. The men resented them being there, and it was just very, very difficult for them, and they had to fight for the respect they were earning. And that's all they want is the respect. "

" I've always been drawn to the hard story, the trauma, because I think art can turn it around. "

" Music had always been a kind of anchor for me. But I didn't write my first song till I was 35. "

" When I first got sober, I hadn't read anything for six or seven years. I didn't have even that much focus. "

" I long for real and true connection. It has been the theme of all the songs in my whole life. "

" I got sober at 27 and started writing around 30 and started playing music in public around 32, 33. "

" It is a form of arrogance to assume that other people are even thinking about you. "

" People who have been through trauma, their souls are hurting. "

" I don't really write for catharsis; I get that kind of work done in therapy. "

" I think it's a stereotype that soldiers don't talk, because my experience is that they will talk if they are met with empathy and no judgment. "

" I got issues. Boy, have I got issues. "

" When I finally got sober, I moved towards what I might have been if I hadn't been destroying myself when I was young. "

" I always knew I was going to make a record called 'The Foundling.' Since I picked up a guitar, I knew it. "

" I feel as though I came to music with something to say. It wasn't like that when I was younger. I didn't have the ability to articulate what it was I wanted to say. "

" When you see validation for a life's work and dedication, it's a beautiful day. "

" I spent my 18th birthday in jail. Charges were dropped as long as I promised never to return to the state of Kansas. My parents took me home to Louisiana. I lasted there a week. Then I ran away. "

" People in Ireland take in the whole song. After a long history of great singers and songwriters and poets, they are able to consume the entire song - not just the external; they go inside. "

" Melody's like tweezers that go into the infection and pull out the wounded part. You can almost not stay silent in the face of a melody that matches your emotion. You feel seen. "

" By the time I got to songwriting, I had been faced with a lot of troubles as a result of my own collective of trauma. I was someone who instinctively figured out that writing songs about the struggle helps you with the struggle. "

" Art, when done well, creates empathy. "

" I would make a terrible soldier, because I don't follow orders. "

" I guess I find it easier to talk when I have a guitar in front of me. "

" A lot of songwriters have written about soldiers and war, but very few have written with them. "