Quotes from Kris Kristofferson

When I was thirty, and a long time after that, I felt like I had to leave home to do what I had to do. Now, it's just the opposite.

I got scars on my face that tell some kind of story. I'm looking in the mirror, and I got one scar that's really two scars - half from a baseball bat and half from playing football in college. I'll tell you, though, after a while, your face gets so wrinkled up you can hardly see them.

I've been a radical for a long time. I guess it's too bad. I'd be more marketable as a right-wing redneck.

Gordon Lightfoot has created some of the most beautiful and lasting music of our time. He is Bob Dylan's favorite singer/songwriter - high praise from the best of us, applauded by the rest of us.

Bobby McGee' was the song that made the difference for me. Every time I sing it, I still think of Janis.

I thought he was the greatest thing. Bob Dylan.

Look at me! I can go from 'Donny and Marie' to Sam Peckinpah to Radio City Music Hall in one week.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

Freedom is just another word: It seems to get truer the older I get.

To me, the best love songs work on two - maybe three - different levels, where you're talking about the person who you're right opposite, and all the people like that.

I hope that I'll keep being creative until they throw dirt on me.

You don't paddle against the current, you paddle with it. And if you get good at it, you throw away the oars.

I boxed in Golden Gloves at Oxford and still know how to throw a straight left jab.

I was in Nicaragua with the Sandinistas. I've argued for Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the United Farm Workers. I've been a radical for a long time. I guess it's too bad. I'd be more marketable as a right-wing redneck. But I got into this to tell the truth as I saw it.

I was working the Gulf of Mexico on oil rigs, flying helicopters. I'd lost my family to my years of failing as a songwriter. All I had were bills, child support, and grief. And I was about to get fired for not letting 24 hours go between the throttle and the bottle. It looked like I'd trashed my act. But there was something liberating about it.

Every time I turn on the radio, I must be on the wrong song or something. But, to be honest, since I went on the road back in 1970, I didn't listen to radio music because I didn't want to subconsciously steal somebody's stuff.

I've tried to be more self-sufficient as I've gotten older. I'd like to not worry about whether they're going to sell my next album or book. Hell, William Blake wasn't even published in his lifetime.

Nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free.

I am grateful every morning I wake up. I've a big family full of kids, who laugh all the time and love each other.

I've come to appreciate how special a song is compared to other art forms, because you can carry it around in your head and your heart, and it remains part of you. It just comes as natural as a bird to me, always did. It's the way singer-songwriters make sense of our lives.

As far as fame, the everlasting fame thing. I used to think that was important for a writer... the desire to make your mark.

The great thing about Nashville back in the day was that the old guys hung out where the young guys were. The established writers like Harlan Howard and Jack Clement gave us encouragement and passed the guitar, you know? Chet Atkins let me sit in on his sessions. Everybody was good to us, and everybody loved the music.

The only reality is in the moment. What you are doing counts.

Right after I resigned from the Army in 1965, I flew helicopters for oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. I flew personnel from rig to rig, and I'd live on a platform out at sea.