If heartaches was commercials, we'd all be on TV.
John PrineRead
I didn't hear anybody talking about the plight of a soldier coming back home and what he'd gone through. That was why I wrote about that stuff. If somebody else had done it, I probably wouldn't have touched the subject.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the often-overlooked struggles of soldiers returning home and the importance of addressing such issues through art.
John Prine reflects on his motivation to write about the challenges faced by soldiers returning from war. He points out that their plight is rarely discussed and emphasizes the significance of bringing such topics to light through music and storytelling. His statement suggests a deep empathy for those who serve and a commitment to giving voice to their experiences when others do not.
In practice
In a speech at a veterans' event, you might share this quote to emphasize the importance of addressing veterans' mental health.
If heartaches was commercials, we'd all be on TV.
One time, I went to school, and they asked us all to find out where our roots were. It's goin' around the class, and the kids were going, 'I'm Swedish-German' or 'I'm English-Irish.' They got to me and I said, 'Pure Kentuckian.'
I just tried to come up with some honest songs. What I was writing about was real plain stuff that I wasn't sure was going to be interesting to other people. But I guess it was...I've never had any discipline whatsoever. I just wait on a song like I was waiting for lightning to strike. And eventually-usually sometime around 3 in the morning-I'll have a good idea. By the time the sun comes up, hopefully, I'll have a decent song.
I feel basically good about my career because it's remained constant. What I do has never been especially in vogue or gotten high on the charts. At the same time, I haven't had to stop performing any of my music because it aged in style.
You know that first love that leaves you? You never forget that, especially if you're a songwriter. I must have gotten nine songs out of that girl.
You get to thinking that because you've written 50 or 100 songs, you think maybe you know how to do it. But when they're not coming along, you're just as in the dark as you ever were. When they're coming along, there's nothing to it. Sometimes it's so easy, it's like you're a court stenographer.
You practice forgiveness for two reasons: to let others know that you no longer wish to be in a state of hostility with them and to free yourself from the self-defeating energy of resentment. Send love in some form to those you feel have wronged you and notice how much better you feel.
All relationships change the brain - but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self.
The rotten apple spoils his companion.
She had a certain way of looking at life which he took as a personal offense.
Hate and love are reciprocal passions.
No one can remain married today because they are not married to the one they love, they are married to their sacrifice, and pretending to love is too damned painful. Love and build, love and work, love and fight. Always love first. Anything placed before love will fail.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.