Quotes from Jimmy Dean

When I was a kid, I used to think, 'Man, if I could ever afford all the ice cream I want to eat, that's as rich as I ever want to be.'

I loved music since the Seth Ward Baptist Church outside of Plainview.

Being a Baptist won't keep you from sinning, but it'll sure as hell keep you from enjoying it.

I've seen so many people in this business that made a fortune. They get old and broke and can't make any money. I tell you something... no one's going to play a benefit for Jimmy Dean.

You know you're getting old when you go to more funerals than you do weddings.

I better know how to take care of myself.

I went further on less talent than anyone, but I was a damned good entertainer.

Poverty was the greatest motivating factor in my life.

My favorite song? 'Amazing Grace.' Anybody singing it. But the best it'll ever be done is by the Scottish National Pipe band and their National Orchestra. It'll bring tears to your eyes.

I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

God is bigger than people think.

Poverty was the greatest motivating factor in my life.

I've seen so many people in this business that made a fortune. They get old and broke and can't make any money. I tell you something... no one's going to play a benefit for Jimmy Dean.

Sausage is a great deal like life. You get out of it about what you put into it.

A lot of things I am, and a lot of things I am not. But I think I'm about as good an American as there is. I love this country. It's been very, very good to me. And it will be good to anybody if they are willing to give of themselves.

God is bigger than people think.

Being a nice guy is detrimental to actors. When I first came to Hollywood, everyone was nice to me. Everyone thought I was a nice guy.

I was a hard-workin' little boy. Oh, I worked. Pullin' cotton, shockin' grain, cuttin' wheat, loadin' wheat, choppin' cotton, cleanin' chicken houses, milkin' cows, plowin'.

Do what you say you're going to do. And try to do it a little better than you said you would.

The other day, I said I should write a song, 'When Does the New Wear Off?' I think it would be a helluva title.

I made more money yesterday than I ever thought I'd make in an entire lifetime. But it's like somebody's going to take it all away from me and I'll be back in Texas, installing them damned irrigation wells. I didn't like that when I was sixteen. And I know I wouldn't like it when I'm eighty.

You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it.

Nobody, man or woman, has ever wrecked a good marriage.

I won't go hunting with you, Jake, but I'll go chasing women.