Quotes from Steve Earle

Every country that's ever been the most powerful country in the world ceases to be the most powerful country in the world at some point.

My spiritual system is 12-step programs. That's the only one I've ever had. I didn't have one before that.

Me, I'm spiritually retarded, I need to be knee deep in water with a fly rod in my hands, that's about as close to God as I get.

I think the singer/songwriter genre is going to be like bluegrass and jazz. You can make a living at it, but it's not part of the musical mainstream anymore.

Becoming interested in poetics got me interested in theater. Theater is supposed to be poetry, you know, before it's anything else. It just doesn't fly if it isn't musical.

I do not believe Tony Blair was a fundamentally good man who went bad. I believe he was evil in the first place.

The creative core of New York has never been native New Yorkers; it's people from all over the world.

New Orleans is a unique environment.

Making art in America is sort of a political statement in and of itself. It's not the best environment for that sometimes.

You know, I'm not comfortable with people whose politics are static in a democracy.

I'm a country singer, and I'm comfortable with that. But why does a country singer have to play only on country radio or a rock singer only on a rock station? I still don't understand why it's that big a deal.

I mainly read non-fiction, and that's probably because I have a huge amount of insecurity about my lack of education and the things I don't know.

I think it's obvious that democracy is something that is contagious, and it always has been.

I'm a very disciplined person when it comes to my work, but discipline can't save m from being a drug addict.

I don't separate writing songs from poetry and short fiction. In the area where I work in my house, there's a word processor and a guitar.

My son was diagnosed with autism. He's OK, he makes eye contact, but he doesn't talk. He needs eight hours a day of very intensive school, and you wouldn't even believe me if I told you how much it costs.

I just had a child on purpose at age 56, I'm pretty f---ing optimistic.

Having a child at 55... that's optimism.

Every day on Earth is another chance to get it right.

I still write more songs about girls than anything else.

I've never made a record that I'm ashamed of.

The play's about forgiveness,

It's incredibly irresponsible to allow victims' family members to witness executions.

I don't really think in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.