“As soon as I left one town, I was in another, each one a totally different world, as if an invisible box surrounded its edges, keeping everybody in their proper place.The rich stayed rich. The poor stayed poor. The troublemakers stayed in trouble.”

“What happened?”“I tried to be somebody different from who I am and it didn’t work out.”“The world ain’t set up that way. Folks say we oughta be better than we are, but deep down they just want us to stay in our places. With our own kind.Messes up the natural order, otherwise.”

“I won’t offer you a tired admonition to avoid my path. I won’t advise you to stay on the straight and narrow. I won’t suggest that you make good choices. I won’t even tell you to do the right thing. You can get that kind of advice from teachers and parents and TV evangelists, and if you are like me, you wouldn’t listen anyway. I just make one suggestion.Know what path you’re on.”

“Who cares about my voice? There are more important things going on in the world. I want to make a difference. I’m going to law school. I want to become a public defender.”I couldn’t believe she’d give up singing to work with scumbags like me. “By the time a guy ends up in front of the judge, it’s too late to make a difference.”“It’s never too late to make a difference,” she said.“All I’m saying is that with your music you could have an influence on people before they end up in trouble.”

“Words are like people, I think. Put too many of them too close together and they cause trouble.”

“I have learned there is more than one way to die.”

“People look at me and say I've got it all,But when you're standing at the top you've gotA log, long way yo fallAnd tell me if i doCan i depend on you?Will you be the manWho will catch me if you can?'Cause I'm fallin' hardI'm fallin' fastAnd i gotta knowIf it's gonna last.You're the one i needTo teach me to believe”