Quote

Sinclair Lewis was asked one time to give a talk to class of students about writing. When he got there he asked the class, Do you people want to be writers?and they all said yes. Then Lewis said, Why the hell aren't you at home writing?

Tom T. Hall

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Tom T. Hall
Age: 85 †
Born: 1936
Born: May 25
Died: 2021
Died: August 20
Author
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Songwriter
Writer
Olive Hill
Kentucky
Thomas Hall
Talk
Sinclair
Give
Lewis
Home
Writers
Giving
Aren
Writing
Asked
Time
Students
People
Hell
Class

More quotes by Tom T. Hall

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I never hid out. I was never big enough a star.
Tom T. Hall
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If they want to come out and watch me paint or dig potatoes or mend fences, I don't care. I don't do interviews not because I have anything to hide, but when you retire, the word has a meaning to me. It's a place in life, a part of the journey. You just don't quit work. You develop an attitude where you can do what you please.
Tom T. Hall
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Songwriting is as much a craft as a talent.
Tom T. Hall
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Is this really Butte, Montana, or just existential blues?
Tom T. Hall
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I think the nature of songwriters is that they are philosophers, and philosophers have a bent towards poetry and songwriting, so I think that the two run around together. The nature of a songwriter could be philosophical. Looking for universal ideas, a way to say things, get the story across as a means of entertaining, provoking thought.
Tom T. Hall
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The first time with artistic endeavors is, if it's working, it was your idea, and if it's not, it's somebody else's idea.
Tom T. Hall
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I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups, bourbon in a glass, and grass.
Tom T. Hall
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Nobody knows a hit before it's a hit.
Tom T. Hall
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My best album is called In Search Of A Song. That was my best shot right there. My finest hour, as they say. I could listen to the whole thing all the way through. There's nothing really crammed into it.
Tom T. Hall
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The enticing allure of Nashville is that there is always something new coming down the pike. Put this record on and you’ll hear footsteps.
Tom T. Hall
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I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.
Tom T. Hall
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I was well traveled, and I created this illusion of literacy through reading and writing. I wrote a book of short stories.
Tom T. Hall
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After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.
Tom T. Hall
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She gave her heart to Jethro and her body to the whole wide world.
Tom T. Hall
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My theory is if you have a religion, it's a good one. Because some people don't have any at all.
Tom T. Hall
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Young kids are doing the same thing I did, but they're doing it differently. They don't do brain surgery the way they used to do it either.
Tom T. Hall
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The best compliment I ever had is, one day I was in Nashville, some disc jockey said, Hey, that sounds like a Tom T. Hall song. Up until then there hadn't been any such thing.
Tom T. Hall
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Old dogs care about you, even when you make mistakes.
Tom T. Hall
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Religion is a strange, wonderful thing. More crimes have been committed in the name of righteousness than any other notion.
Tom T. Hall
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If Barbara Walters was interviewing me, I'd figure her career was as dead as mine!
Tom T. Hall