Kris Kristofferson Quotes & Sayings

I never was one to go into an office and write. For one thing, I had a job. I was cleaning the ashtrays and setting up the studios at Columbia for a couple of years and working every other week down in the Gulf of Mexico flying helicopters. I didn't really get to just write songs for about five years. — Kris Kristofferson

The heart is what matters most of all — Kris Kristofferson

Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart. 'Cause that's all that matters in the end. — Kris Kristofferson

Roy Orbison was one of the genuinely nicest persons I've ever known. With one of the most beautiful voices in the history of recorded music he could easily have had an opera star's ego, but he was one of the humblest, kindest, sweetest human beings to grace this planet. This in spite of the enormous tragedies in his life. A brave, beautiful blessing of a man. — Kris Kristofferson

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

If you can't get out of something, get into it. — Kris Kristofferson

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

Well I work up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt,
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes,
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
An' I shaved my face and combed my hair,
An' stumbled down the stairs to meet the day. — Kris Kristofferson

I want you to know I'm an Army brat; I was a captain in the Army and my brother was a jet pilot in the Navy. So I support our troops; I identify with them. But I sure as hell don't identify with the bastards who sent them over there. — Kris Kristofferson

And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert — Kris Kristofferson

Bad love is better than no love at all, at least you know you're alive. — Kris Kristofferson

Bombing people for economic reasons is as horrible as killing a pregnant woman. — Kris Kristofferson

I've had a life of all kinds of experiences - most of them good. And I've got eight kids and a wife that puts up with everything I do and keeps me out of trouble. — Kris Kristofferson

I'd rather be sorry for something I had done than for something I didn't do. — Kris Kristofferson

The wolf pack will die when scattered by man, lonesome coyote survives. — Kris Kristofferson

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. — Kris Kristofferson

I'll only live 'til I die — Kris Kristofferson

The closest I've come to knowing myself is in losing myself. That's why I loved football before I loved music. I could lose myself in it. — Kris Kristofferson

I feel so lucky to have lived the life that I did and to be surrounded by the people I love. I've got eight kids, and they're always laughing all the time. It's like music to my ears. I think that my frame of mind these days is probably happier than I've ever been, which is kind of odd, coming close to the finish line. — Kris Kristofferson

I always had to wait until something hit me, and I could write it. But when I would cut an album, to me it represented the time that I spent since the last one. Just the way I was looking at the world. — Kris Kristofferson

There are points in your life, especially if you have creative ambitions, where selfishness is necessary. — Kris Kristofferson

His soul was bigger than a body's ought to be. — Kris Kristofferson

I've never forgotten a single record I cut or a song I wrote. — Kris Kristofferson

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

Peter Cooper looks at the world with an artist's eye and a human heart and soul. His songs are the work of an original, creative imagination, alive with humor and heartbreak and irony and intelligence, with truth and beauty in the details. Deep stuff. And they get better every time you listen to them. — Kris Kristofferson

Just remember that William Blake wasn't even published in his lifetime. Ya gotta keep creating. — Kris Kristofferson

Never give up, which is the lesson I learned from boxing. As soon as you learn to never give up, you have to learn the power and wisdom of unconditional surrender, and that one doesn't cancel out the other; they just exist as contradictions. The wisdom of it comes as you get older. — Kris Kristofferson

I grew up in a time when people believed in duty, honor and country. My grandfathers were both officers. My father was a General in the Air Force. My brother and I were both in the Army. I've always felt a kinship with soldiers; I think it's possible to support the warrior and be against the war. — Kris Kristofferson

I never thought of acting as a creative process. Christ, I used to go to the movies and see Brando talking like he was trying to sell shoes, and he was great. I thought anybody could do it. Then I tried it, and I got so uptight, I'm limited as to what I can do on film. — Kris Kristofferson

I think I'm a much better father as an older man than I was with my first kids. Occasionally, I have to yell at the little guys, but they don't take me seriously. 'Listen to the old guy,' they say. 'Isn't he great? He's mad.' — Kris Kristofferson

I'd trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday. — Kris Kristofferson

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. — Kris Kristofferson

The one thing I regret is missing the time with my older children when they were young. — Kris Kristofferson

Johnny Cash has always been larger than life. — Kris Kristofferson

The world he saw was sadder than the one he hoped to find. But it wasn't near as lonesome as the one he left behind. — Kris Kristofferson

Her close friends have gathered.
Lord, ain't it a shame
Grieving together
Sharing the blame.
But when she was dying
Lord, we let her down.
There's no use cryin'
It can't help her now.

The party's all over
Drink up and go home.
It's too late to love her
And leave her alone.

Just say she was someone
Lord, so far from home
Whose life was so lonesome
She died all alone
Who dreamed pretty dreams
That never came true
Lord, why was she born
So black and blue?
Oh, why was she born
So black and blue?

Epitaph (Black And Blue)
Written by: Kris Kristofferson
Note: "Epitaph" is about Janis Joplin. — 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. — Kris Kristofferson

Nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free. — Kris Kristofferson

The number one rule of the road is never go to bed with anyone crazier than yourself. You will break this rule and you will be sorry. — Kris Kristofferson

I had a list of rules I made up one time. It says: Tell the truth, sing with passion, work with laughter, and love with heart. Those are good to start with, anyway. — Kris Kristofferson

I have no regrets. I feel very grateful for the life that I had - you know, family I live with; and I've been doing work that I love, ever since I came to Nashville. — Kris Kristofferson

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

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

If you're in it because you love it and you have to do it, that's the right reason. If you're in it because you want to get rich or famous, don't do it. People often say that my first years in Nashville, when I wasn't getting anything cut, were tough. Hell, those were great years. — Kris Kristofferson

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. — Kris Kristofferson

If God made anything better than women, I think he kept it for himself. — Kris Kristofferson

You're the only one that you are screwin', when you put down what you don't understand. — Kris Kristofferson

I'll probably be writing as long as I'm breathing. — Kris Kristofferson

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. It looked like I'd trashed my act. But there was something liberating about it. By not having to live up to people's expectations, I was somehow free. — Kris Kristofferson

I don't think I've gotten any smarter, but your reflexes slow down before you do something stupid when you're older. — Kris Kristofferson

Johnny Cash was the champion of the voiceless, the underdogs and the
downtrodden. He was also something of a holy terror, like Abraham Lincoln
with a wild side. He represented the best of America. — Kris Kristofferson

There were decades I didn't play sober. I thought, Who would want to? But at some point, I decided that if it was important enough to me to keep doing it as art, I should do it with all my tools. — Kris Kristofferson

Jesus was a Capricorn, he ate organic foods, he believed in love and peace, and never wore no shoes. — Kris Kristofferson

I've been writing songs since I was a little boy. You know, I think I wrote my first song when I was 11. — Kris Kristofferson