"My philosophy is the thicker the wood the thicker the sound, the bigger the string the bigger the sound. My smallest string is a 14 gauge."

"I don't claim to be a musician, I didn't go to Julliard."

"My uncle gave me a trumpet, but I loved the Louis Armstrong sound and the Harry James sound and I played by ear and I played always soulful or very direct from the gut."

"I always wanted a guitar. I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I also listened to Hank Williams, and he would always sing these neat romantic songs."

"Ah, well, the truth is always one thing, but in a way it's the other thing, the gossip, that counts. It shows where people's hearts lie."

"It is a enduring truth that the stoutest timber is forged in the fiercest gales, not in the sheltered grove — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"It is a humble truth that true innovation is born when curiosity dares to question long-settled assumptions — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"The first thing that I really understood politically and was old enough to get was the failed assassination attempt on Reagan."