I change every day. I'm still changing.

I've always been a searcher - you know, a hunter. I'm certainly not the only one. They say actors shouldn't get political and everything, but you can't separate yourself. You can't disconnect yourself from anything.

I've never seen a Western that was really truthful. Most are just morality plays. Good guys and bad guys - and the good guys always win, whereas in reality, most of the sheriffs were as bad as the gangsters they were after.

I watch television. Game shows - I hate the hosts and the people on them, and I love the questions and the answers.

There is no self.

My sister tells me I began singing before I could even talk. My first performance was of a song called 'My Blue Heaven,' which I began singing when I was a year and a half.

The first music I remember hearing was the traditional songs of Kentucky - things like 'Roll Along Kentucky Moon.'

I don't recall what the first record I bought was, but I definitely remember hearing Creedence's 'Born on the Bayou' and going out and buying it. The guitar and drums in that band were really good. I loved the words to the title track, and Fogerty's voice sounded just great.

For a musician to be good, he has to have humanity and care about the other guy. And as for blues - in a sense, black people have kept this country alive and given us our entire musical heritage.

Study up on the Eastern religions. They're the only ones that are realistic. There's no answer, see.

There is no answer. That's what Buddhism says. The Void, oblivion, no answer. To be in that state is an enlightened state.

I just wasn't psychologically made to get married or, God forbid, be a father.

I like to do nothing.

I do all the classics, like Dylan, Kristofferson, Jimmy Reed, Mexican mariachi songs, some jazz songs from the '30s. Cole Porter's 'Begin the Beguine,' that's one of my favorites.

I've got a pretty iconoclastic attitude about all institutions myself. And I just think the church was corrupted right after Christ was killed.

I've been blessed. I've worked with a lot of good people.

Casting is a convoluted kind of trip. No one likes to be typed - even if you're a cab driver, or whatever you do.

I met Dylan on 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.' We buddied around for quite a while after that. We jammed together; he liked my Mexican songs.

I have to wait and see what happens. Because nobody's in charge.

I can't stress too much how much Ry Cooder was an influence on me. Having one of the most respected musicians around like my singing really gave me the confidence to do it.

People kept asking me, 'When are you singing again?' so I kept doing it. It was that simple.

People know you as an actor, and labels are so comfortable for people. That syndrome is always hard to get past.

I can understand why it takes some people a long time to really be a singer. You have to find out, 'Why am I singing? What am I doing this for?' I do it because I enjoy it, and philosophically, music is a catalyst. It's a refining agent.

I was in World War Two at the battle of Okinawa.

My father and mother were not that compatible. I don't think they had a good wedding night, and I was the product of that. We weren't close.

If I never did another film after 'Paris, Texas,' I'd be happy.

I would've preferred to blossom earlier in life.

I think every actor wants to play those big parts. In the very first play I ever did, I remember understanding all the characters in it. I always felt I could play anyone.

I'm tired of playing people who are complete washouts and bums. I don't mind waiting for the good ones to come along. It's like age. It's never bothered me. I've even forgot my birthday. Many times I've wondered if I should tell my real age, but now I think it's an honor, to be doing what I'm doing now at my age.

All organized religions are basically the same.

I grew up Southern Baptist. In the Bible Belt.

I am not into any religions. I have been mostly influenced by Eastern religions - Taoism, the essence of Hinduism and Buddhism. But my belief is not having any beliefs.

I am an actor and this is holding the mirror up to nature, as it were.

I've had offers that could've made me much richer and much more famous than I am.

I've passed up opportunities. I've avoided the spotlight. I've never been to Academy Awards, didn't relate to them.

Silence is the most powerful state.

Sam Shepard is a brilliant writer.

I made it a point not to graduate. I thought that was a positive, independent kind of statement.

I don't blame anyone but myself for the kind of parts I got. To blame external circumstances is absolute folly.

'Paris, Texas' gave me a chance to play compassion, and I'm spelling that with a capital C.

I worked with the best directors - Martin Scorsese, John Huston, David Lynch, Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock was great.

I always had a dramatic flair. I'd like to dress up like a cowboy, play make-believe. But I didn't realize acting was something I had to do until I got to college.

The soul is an illusion.

I used to sing when I was six years old. When the family would leave the house, I'd get up on the stool and sing. 'T for Texas, T for Tenessee, T for Thelma, the gal that made a wreck out of me.' I was in love with my babysitter. She was 18. I was six.

I've had chances to record albums, which I haven't done.

Nothing is important.

Every actor is a character actor.

Singing and acting are actually very similar things. Anyone can sing and anyone can be a film actor. All you have to do is learn.

I was singing the blues when I was six. Kind of sad, eh?

I could have made it as a singer, but I went with acting - surrendered to it, in a way.