"A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance."

"You can't build an adaptable organization without adaptable people - and individuals change only when they have to, or when they want to."

"To escape the curse of commoditization, a company has to be a game-changer, and that requires employees who are proactive, inventive and zealous."

"An uplifting sense of purpose is more than an impetus for individual accomplishment, it is also a necessary insurance policy against expediency and impropriety."

"A resilient spirit knows that the river of time shapes the stones of destiny."

"I came from a poor family, so working and going to school at the same time was natural. It taught me multi-tasking, although we didn't call it that back then. I learned I could never be idle, I need to be doing many things at once."

"I think I first realized I wanted to be in country music and be an artist when I was 10. And I started dragging my parents to festivals, and fairs, and karaoke contests, and I did that for about a year before I came to Nashville for the first time. I was 11 and I had this demo CD of me singing Dixie Chicks and Leanne Rimes songs."

"When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity."