Toby Keith Quotations

Here's the thing. Just because you're pro-troops doesn't mean you're pro-war. And just because you're anti-war doesn't mean you're anti-troops. Just because you don't support the war people think you are anti-troops and you are a bad guy.

My mom taught us the Serenity Prayer at a young age.

Everybody should have their own thing, and if he don't want to be a role model, that should be up to him. In the right situations, I can try to help and be a role model, but I'm still gonna speak my mind, and if that affects the role-model deal, then too bad.

I write all year, and at the end of the year I put an album out. And if sucks, it sucks, and if it's good, it's good. I just let it lay where it lays. It doesn't stop from doing another one next year.

Don't compromise even if it hurts to be yourself.

I say if you're going to take a chance on something, you just go full balls to the wall.

I write all year long, and at the end of the year I pull these forty or fifty things out and say, 'Which of these things do I want to record?'

Writing is not work. In fact, there's nothing better. Writing is something that if the music business went completely away tomorrow - radio stations quit existing and music quit being popular and it was old hat - I would still write songs.

If I hear a conversation and somebody says something intriguing, my first thought is, Is that a song? I write all year long, and at the end of the year I pull these forty or fifty things out and say which of these things do I want to record.

In the years that I've seen concerts, when I've paid to see somebody I want to see, there would be a certain amount of songs I'd want to hear. So whether it's stuff I want to play every night or not - or stuff I've been playing for years or stuff you get tired of playing - you have to play what people pay for and make it fair for them.

Writing songs and looking for ideas is like blinking my eyes. It's an involuntary muscle. I do it without thought.

Well, I couldn't do the day-to-day stuff of being a politician or anything, but I just think everybody should have an opinion and everybody should vote, and that's what we're built on.

I have drawn a very close bond to all the military people.

I'm into hip-hop, rap, country, blues, gospel, old school, new school... whatever... pop. If it's really good, I like it. I don't have to be told what to listen to. If I like it and it's good, I'll listen to it.

When you've got an extra gear in your head where that's all you do, you've constantly got a little radar up. ... And when something hits that strikes that beeper, hits that radar, it's like my song skills kick right in and go, 'Oh, OK, there's a song in that.' And then I start trying to figure it out.

You know, I'm pro-troops, but I'm not pro-war.

I always vote for the guy I think can get it done. And it ain't nobody's business who I vote for, but I voted for Clinton twice. And that just blows people's minds when they hear that.

I've always said I can't tell sometimes that people even have an album out until I see them nominated for a Grammy. I think country gets dumped on across the board by the Grammys.

It's like pulling teeth to get me to do photo shoots. And I don't mind doing interviews if they're by phone, but I hate to go sit down and have to meet somebody somewhere, you know what I mean.

When I came to DreamWorks, I was in bad trouble. They were in bad trouble. They were millions of dollars in the hole and a few days from closing their doors. I was on my last leg.

There's a band of studio session - hot players - that play on my albums... They're an eclectic bunch of misfits that I've worked with for years and years.

We try to buy as much American-made shirts as we can and stuff to sell. It's very difficult to cover every base as much as our country has been saturated with foreign products.

We turned what is virtually a glorified independent label into one of the powerhouse labels in the town.

I play golf with my shirttail out. I own a golf course because it's very, very close to my house, and I don't want to drive 45 minutes to the north side of Oklahoma City to play golf every day. I have race horses 'cause I love horses and it's my hobby.

I'm influenced by all kinds of music. I have a very diverse iPod. You never know if I've got it on shuffle. You never know what you are going to hear next. I like all genres.

Go for a walk, say a little prayer and take a deep breath of mountain air,

We can literally make a decision at noon and get started by 1 p.m..

James made every record ... that established my career.

My wife got upset, but I usually take those things, when people say stuff about me like that, and turn them into gold. So when the person who said that goes to her Wal-Mart and she's looking for a garden hose and looks over and sees the album, she'll know what a great idea it was to call me white trash with money.

You just try to give them a little piece of the United States, and tell them that we all support them and love them, no matter what they hear.

There are a couple of things that are really brought home from a female perspective. In the studio I sing hard, and she softened that up. On 'Crash Here Tonight' she said 'You have a rich baritone voice, and I think this song can be just as sexy as all get out. Let's keep it in this register. Let it be sassy and intimate.

Oh, and I don't want to die for youbut if dyin's asked of meI'll bear that cross with honor'cause freedom don't come free

Probably 75 percent of the people in this town think I'll fail, and the other 25 percent hope I fail,

During the playoffs, they never allowed a point. By the end of the season, teams were coming to scout us and that was the third grade. But we would out-execute them. Our kids were talented enough, they were hard to stop.

I've got three or four really mainstream double-platinum kind of artists that are kind of late in their deals, too, that have contacted us. They trust in the fact that I'm willing to stand up and fight for the rights of songwriters and artists.

I made sure the first artist I signed was Toby Keith.

None of the Nashville labels think I'm going to make it. But I feel very confident about my new label, because I'm signed as the first act. And as long as I continue to sell records, the label is going to be outstanding.

I know how angry I was when I saw those towers come down, and this is my way of serving my country.

It's that dark cloud, the glass half empty on everything you do. It just becomes too much for me. So I unplugged myself.

This movie thing is creative. It's the most creative thing I've done in years.

Through the years, a lot of it is just being around some great people like my dad and his friends who come up with those things. I've just claimed them after I've heard them.

We went from being an independent to one of the biggest and best labels in town, and in the merger we lost all identity, ... We were the little dog that barked loud (and) grew up to be a big dog, and when we merged we were powerless.

We're going to be an independent, ... but smell, walk, talk, look and record like a major.

It was the most creative thing I've done in a decade.

It's a pretty big undertaking with every business lesson I've ever learned in hand.

They're just other cities. With the type of technology we have today - there's no reason for me to live anywhere else, so I might as well stay at home.

There's some nights I can't remember with friends I can't forget.

We ain't got a lot, but we don't need anything. Covered in kisses, surrounded by love, showered with blessings from up above.

I ain't as good as I once was, But I'm as good once as I ever was.

I'd catch moonlight in a bottle, if we could drink a toast to happiness.

American Girls and American Guys We'll always stand up and salute We'll always recognize When we see Old Glory Flying There's a lot of men dead So we can sleep in peace at night When we lay down our head.

Justice will be served And the battle will rage This big dog will fight When you rattle his cage And you'll be sorry that you messed with The U.S. of A. 'Cause we'll put a boot in your *ss It's the American way

Raise up your glasses against evil forces; Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses.

I loved both [Bob] Seger and the Eagles, knowing why they didn't play some of the songs I wanted to hear. But at the same time, they covered all the big bases, and the stuff that most people had heard. But they definitely had a bunch of album cuts that I wanted to hear that they didn't get around to.

Grandpappy told my pappy, back in my day son, a man had to answer for the wicked he done. Take all the rope in Texas, find a tall oak tree, round up all the bad boys, and hang them in the streets for all the people to see.

You've got my heart in unfamiliar territory. It's never been out here on my sleeve. But here tonight with you it's quite a different story. You bring out a side of me no one has ever seen.

I'm as strong, strong as I can be, but ooh ooh ooh, baby you leave me weak.

Don't apologize for being patriotic. Support the troops

My mind is cautious but my heart is in a hurry.

A sucker punch came flying from somewhere in the back. As soon as we can see clearly with our big black eye, we're going to light up your world like the fourth of July.

Things use to be real nice, til they got out of hand. Since they moved in, they call themselves the Taliban.

And yet this is farther than I've ever fell; You know me much too well. Funny it don't feel like we just met. It didn't take much time. Forever's more than crossed my mind, and we haven't even said 'I love you' yet.

Hate me if you want to, love me if you can.

There's something I'm afraid to say to you too early, but I'd be a fool to wait too late.

I've written 90 percent of the songs in my career, on all my albums.

When I go in and vote, I vote for the person I think will get the job done.I don't vote right-left.

I'm not a political guy. I've been a Democrat my whole life, but that didn't mean I went in and just pulled the Democratic ticket.

I catch as much hell from the hard-core conservative people as I do the far left. The only difference is that the far right don't bring the hate to the table that the far left does. And that's my party. They just deal in so much hate. I mean the far left, not the Democrats, the far left really deal in hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.

I've been to two concerts in the last 10 years.Bob Seger and the Eagles.

My fans have been very loyal to me, so I want 'em into the mix every song. I don't want 'em having breaks on stuff I'm trying to push on them.

Through the years I've accumulated this big bag of songs. When I go out I do close to two hours, and it's all just attitude - and up-tempo. I've accumulated so many of those types of songs now that the show just gets off with a bang, and I'll only do two or three ballads the whole show.

If we were to sit and discuss abortion and legalizing marijuana and gay marriage and all those things, you'd be surprised where you'd see me on the side of some of that stuff. People get their opinions - as soon as you're a real flag-waving patriot, then all of a sudden you're a conservative.

Somebody said they seen her heading out of town, now she ran away with a rodeo clown.

That's more along what the story is, as opposed to me being onstage singing.

I'd had my whole life to write my first album. I had my No. 1 and my third single out, and they go, 'Hey, guess what? We need to start recording the next one.' I'm like, 'Uh oh, I got to write another album. Well, how am I gonna write 'Should've Been a Cowboy' and 'Ain't Worth Missing' and all that again?' It took me forever to write the first one.

... I like the clubs because ... we have two or three acoustic guitars up there and we're not hard-core slamming or stomping through the music. We're singing it with intricate harmonies and really showing the craftsmanship.

... I get more respect from rap artists than I do from my own industry. I don't always write the kind of music that country executives want. Rappers are like that too .. my words come from the street, and their words come from the street. That slicked-up pop stuff doesn't come from the street, it's all pre-fab...

Where did I surrender, can you tell me how and when. I'm the one who's always in control. Leading with my heart like there is nothing to defend as I lay it all out on the line body and soul. I've never let another in so soon.

There ain't no justice, laws of nature rule this land. Better hide your horses, bury your whiskey.

I sobered up and I got to thinking, girl, you ain't much fun since I quit drinking.

A little blue-eyed blonde in a red hot sweater, wants to spice my chili, I think I'll let her.

I will do my duty no matter what the price, I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice. Oh, and I don't want to die for you, but if dying is asked of me, I'll bear that cross of honor cause freedom don't come free.

Justice is the one thing you should always find.

My daddy served in the army where he lost his right eye, but he flew a flag out in our yard until the day that he died. He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me, to grow up and live happy in the land of the free.

I'm not the kind of man that holds out on a need for nothing. I'm as lonely as any man around, I just don't like to pick 'em up and lay 'em down.

It's time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground, send them all to their maker and he'll settle them down.

Kids on the Youtube, learning how to be cool.

I was raised in bars. My grandmother had one, and when I was 12 years old I'd go stay with her and that's where I got to watch her band play -- she had a seven or eight-piece band, and I would sit in the kitchen and peek through the door. I was kind of a 12-year-old bottle washer.

So as far as leadership and patriotism goes, I think it's really important that those things have to take place. And I think he's the best Democratic candidate we've had since Bill Clinton. And that's coming from a Democrat.

I've been a lifetime Democrat, and I'm re-registering this year as an independent. It's strictly [because] my party, that I've been affiliated with all these years, doesn't stand for anything that I stand for anymore. They've lost any sensibility that they had, and they've allowed all the kooks in, so I'm going independent.

Burning up the phone until there's nothing left to say, so I lay here and just listen to you breathe. Girl you know it's only been a week since our first date-back when you were just a stranger to me. I've never let another in so soon.

My first gig, I was about 17 or 18. But I'd been singing a long time. I got a guitar when I was 8, and started trying to write songs as a teenager.

My deal will always be one solo performance-nominated or not. Not some thrown together rock tribute.

In the years that Ive seen concerts, when Ive paid to see somebody I want to see, there would be a certain amount of songs Id want to hear. So whether its stuff I want to play every night or not - or stuff Ive been playing for years or stuff you get tired of playing - you have to play what people pay for and make it fair for them.

Somebody's sexual preference is, like, who cares?

Writing is not work. In fact, theres nothing better. Writing is something that if the music business went completely away tomorrow - radio stations quit existing and music quit being popular and it was old hat - I would still write songs.