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Willie Nelson Quotes

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American musician, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.

Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky-tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. He also worked as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Vancouver and nearby Portland, Oregon. In 1958, he moved to Houston, Texas, after signing a contract with D Records. He sang at the Esquire Ballroom weekly and he worked as a disk jockey. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and later signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album, ...And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.

In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho and Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.

In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed that he owed $32 million. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; the profits of the double album—destined to the IRS—and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk.

Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television. Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws , which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas. Wikipedia  

✵ 29. April 1933
Willie Nelson photo
Willie Nelson: 32   quotes 4   likes

Famous Willie Nelson Quotes

“I had gotten up to two, maybe three, packs (of cigarettes) a day. And my lungs were bothering me and I'd had pneumonia two or three times. And I was also smoking pot, and I decided, well, one of them's got to go. And so I took a pack of Chesterfields and took all the Chesterfields out, rolled up 20 big fat ones and put it in there, and I haven't smoked a cigarette since then”

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson: Road Rules And Deep Thoughts, NPR Staff, NPR.org, National Public Radio, November 18, 2012, November 18, 2012 http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=165223056,

“Three chords and the truth — that’s what a country song is.”

Willie Nelson

Nelson clarified in his autobiography, It's A Long Story: My Life that it was an original phrase from songwriter Harlan Howard. An example of Nelson quoting the phrase: [A lot of country music is sad. I think most art comes out of poverty and hard times. It applies to music. Three chords and the truth — that’s what a country song is. There is a lot of heartache in the world., http://theboot.com/willie-nelson-parade-interview/?trackback=tsmclip, Willie Nelson Opens Up About Music, Marriages and Marijuana, Horne, Marianne, June 28, 2010, The Boot, Taste of Country, January 21, 2014]
Attributed

“There are more old drunks than there are old doctors.”

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson Quotes about thinking

“I don't remember Moses writing, 'Thou shalt not kill.. unless you think you have a good reason.”

Willie Nelson

Source: The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart [With Headphones]

“I have this kind of philosophy that I can't do anything about what happened yesterday, or what's going to happen tomorrow. But I feel in full control of what's going on now. I think worry will make you sick. I've never seen it accomplish anything. I've never seen worrying about anything change it. So I decided not to do it. If you can't do anything about it, why in the hell worry about it? Every negative thought you have releases poison into your system, and will kill you or give you cancer, or tumors or whatever else you can think of. So if you are thinking negative about anything, erase that.”

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson On Eggs, Martial Arts & Living A Life Without Worry, Southern Living, Lifestyle Network, January 2017, February 22, 2017 http://www.southernliving.com/culture/celebrities/willie-nelson-interview-video,

“Rather than trying to put an end to Eminem or some other rapper, politicians should think about why they're rapping. It's easier to try to censor some kid who's swearing about poverty than it is to stop the poverty.”

Willie Nelson

Playboy interview, November 2002.

“Marijuana is like sex. If I don't do it every day, I get a headache. I think marijuana should be recognized for what it is, as a medicine, an herb that grows in the ground. If you need it, use it.”

Willie Nelson

[Nelson, Willie; Bud Shrake; Edwin Shrake, 2000, Willie: An Autobiography, Cooper Square Press, 197]

“I'm not going to get married again, I think I'll just find a woman that hates me, then buy her a house.”

Willie Nelson

Also attributed to Lewis Grizzard, among others.
Attributed

“When you think a negative thought, it releases poison in your system. Next thing you know, you wind up with cancer or other diseases. I try to live in the moment without regrets.”

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson Speaks Out on Medical Marijuana, Barbra Streisand and More, August/September 2014, August 5, 2014, AARP Magazine, AARP http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/music/info-2014/willie-nelson-country-music-legend.html,

Willie Nelson Quotes about people

“You'll never get ahead by blaming your problems on other people.”

Willie Nelson

Source: The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart

“We are the same. There is no difference anywhere in the world. People are people. They laugh, cry, feel, and love, and music seems to be the commons denomination that brings us all together. Music cuts through all boundaries and goes right to the soul.”

Willie Nelson

[The Facts of Life: And Other Dirty Jokes, 119, Random House Digital, 2003, 9780375758607, Nelson, Willie; McMurtry, Larry]

“Bob Wills taught me how to be a bandleader and how to be a star. […] There was no time wasted between songs. I learned from him to keep the people moving and dancing. […] The more you keep the music going, the smoother the evening will be. Another thing he taught me was people came and paid their money to hear what they wanted to hear. Even if Bob had a mediocre band that night, the people knew his records and his radio shows and they heard what they thought Bob Wills sounded like. Whether he had a good night or a bad night, every night was a good night.”

Willie Nelson

[Nelson, Willie; Bud Shrake; Edwin Shrake, 2000, Willie: An Autobiography, Cooper Square Press, 67]

“It didn't take long for me to realize that writing, performing and singing songs was what I was meant to do, but what other people thought was an entirely different issue. If I had to break it down, I’d say about 99 percent of the people in my life were telling me I wasn’t going to make it. All that adversity and lack of faith ended up just strengthening my own convictions. All that negativity really helped me in the end, because there’s no better inspiration for doing something than having somebody say that you can’t do it.”

Willie Nelson

[Thomas, Marlo, 2004, The Right Words at the Right Time, 229, Simon and Schuster, 978-0-743-44650-1]

“When I left Nashville I went to Texas because that's where I came from, and because I was playing in Texas a lot in different places. And I saw hippies and rednecks drinking beer together and smoking dope together and having a good time together and I knew it was possible to get all groups of people together – long hair, short hair, no hair – and music would bring them together.”

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson: 'If We Made Marijuana Legal, We'd Save a Whole Lotta Money and Lives', Michael, Hann, May 17, 2012, May 20, 2012, The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Ltd. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/17/30-minutes-with-willie-nelson,

“In church I was told that if I so much as smoked a cigarette or tasted alcohol, I’d be damned in hell for all eternity[…]it didn’t take long for me to start thinking that sounded all wrong […]I didn’t cotton to the idea that your religion should be flaunted to other people. Your religion is for you, and is best kept close to your heart.”

Willie Nelson

[The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, 11, Nelson, Willie; Pipkin, Turk, 159240197X, 2006, Gotham]

Willie Nelson Quotes

“… when you put your life in a good place, good things follow.”

Willie Nelson

Source: The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart

Life

“You will never find happiness until you stop looking for it.”

Willie Nelson

Source: The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart

Happiness

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”

Willie Nelson

[The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, XII, Nelson, Willie; Pipkin, Turk, 159240197X, 2006, Gotham]

Life

“Be here. Be present. Wherever you are, be there.”

Willie Nelson

“I smoke pot every day, and I love it!”

Willie Nelson

-stock answer when asked if he's ever smoked cannabis
Attributed

Love

“When I was out in the bars drinking and fighting I was a little bit less of a peacemaker than I would be if I'd had a coupla hits of a joint and gone and laid down somewhere.”

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson: 'If We Made Marijuana Legal, We'd Save a Whole Lotta Money and Lives', Michael, Hann, May 17, 2012, May 20, 2012, The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Ltd. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/17/30-minutes-with-willie-nelson,

Drink , Fight

“I started learning my lessons in Abbot Texas, where I was born in 1933. My sister Bobbie and I were raised by our grandparents […] We never had enough money, and Bobbie and I started working at an early age to help the family get by. That hard work included picking cotton. […] Picking cotton is hard and painful work, and the most lasting lesson I learned in the fields was that I didn't want to spend my life picking cotton.”

Willie Nelson

[The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, 10, Nelson, Willie; Pipkin, Turk, 159240197X, 2006, Gotham]

Life , Money , Pain , Age

“I have more dumb luck thank anybody I know. There must be a convey of guardian angels working twenty-four hours a day looking after me[…] Like the night I first got to Nashville that I laid down in the middle of Broadway, waiting to get run over. It didn't happen […] I could swear they were keeping me alive just to see what I'd get next, I'm glad they feel that way. I'm trying to help them a little more this days.”

Willie Nelson

[The Facts of Life: And Other Dirty Jokes, 29, Random House Digital, 2003, 9780375758607, Nelson, Willie; McMurtry, Larry]

Angels , Way , Feeling , Waiting

“(Songwriting) It's a gift. It all comes from somewhere. I started out really young, when I was four, five, six, writing poems, before I could play an instrument. I was writing about things when I was eight or 10 years old that I hadn't lived long enough to experience.”

Willie Nelson

Source: Willie Nelson: 'If We Made Marijuana Legal, We'd Save a Whole Lotta Money and Lives', Michael, Hann, May 17, 2012, May 20, 2012, The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Ltd. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/17/30-minutes-with-willie-nelson,

“Well, there was a guy, a blacksmith, in Abbott, and he and my granddad both had blacksmith's jobs. I hung around there a lot. And he had a family band. He just let me play because he knew I wanted to work and needed the work. So, I played a guitar in a big polka band with a lot of horns and everything. So, fortunately, no one ever heard me, because I wasn't that great. But I was nine or 10 years old and making eight to 10 dollars a night. So, it was easier than picking cotton.”

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson: Road Rules And Deep Thoughts, NPR Staff, NPR.org, National Public Radio, November 18, 2012, November 18, 2012 http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=165223056,

Family , Guy , Night

“I'm just an ole redneck from Texas who ain't a Democrat or Republican, but I can look at a guy and tell whether I like him or not.”

Willie Nelson

[Willie, Gravatt, Kristin, Y'all, Y'all: The Magazine of Southern People, July/August 2005]

Guy

“Family farmers are small farmers who love the land. They're still not getting enough money for their product and are rapidly losing their battle to stay in business. By helping the American family farmer, we will in turn help ourselves out of the economic hole that we find ourselves in today. It doesn't really matter how we got here; the point is, we have to dig our way out.”

Willie Nelson

[On the Clean Road Again: Biodiesel and the Future of the Family Farm, 36, 37, Nelson, Willie, Fulcrum Publishing, 2007, 9781555916244]

Love , Money , Family , Way

“Biodiesel seems to be the answer to a lot of our prayers. Not only can it help the U. S. economy, our unwanted dependence on foreign oil, and the gasping environment, it could also help the family farmers out of this tragic dilemma they have found themselves in through no fault of their own.”

Willie Nelson

[On the Clean Road Again: Biodiesel and the Future of the Family Farm, 37, Nelson, Willie, Fulcrum Publishing, 2007, 9781555916244]

Family , Help , Dependency

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