Quote

I never fixed a story. I didn't make judgments, I let the listener make judgments. When I got to the end of the story, if it had a moral, I let the listener find it.

Tom T. Hall

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Ends
Listener
Stories
Judgments
Find
Listeners
Make
Fixed
Never
Judgment
Moral
Story
Didn

More quotes by Tom T. Hall

Image
Old dogs care about you, even when you make mistakes.
Tom T. Hall
Image
I love winners when they cry, losers when they try.
Tom T. Hall
Image
Is this really Butte, Montana, or just existential blues?
Tom T. Hall
Image
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
Image
Songwriting is as much a craft as a talent.
Tom T. Hall
Image
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
Image
I had the notion that I wanted to write the great dirty American novel, so I went to Roanoke College on the GI Bill.
Tom T. Hall
Image
She gave her heart to Jethro and her body to the whole wide world.
Tom T. Hall
Image
Nobody knows a hit before it's a hit.
Tom T. Hall
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
If Barbara Walters was interviewing me, I'd figure her career was as dead as mine!
Tom T. Hall
Image
The way you look for songs, you find yourself looking for little signals and clues about life and how things are.
Tom T. Hall
Image
I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups, bourbon in a glass, and grass.
Tom T. Hall
Image
I've been polite and I've always shown up. Somebody asked me if I had any advice for young people entering the business. I said: Yeah, show up.
Tom T. Hall
Image
I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.
Tom T. Hall
Image
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
Image
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