The number one thing in this world that has brought people out of poverty is the ease of doing business. And it's getting harder and harder and harder. I mean, you basically have the Democrats out there saying I should pay more and more taxes on the profits I make.

We talk nonstop about what needs to be changed, and everyone has excuses for why the changes can't happen. I believe we must change our educational system first to get the changes moving forward. I'm happy to be a voice and get in front of an audience who can help by making education a priority.

Everyone likes to learn history. They just don't like to hear it from a professor looking at notes. They like to hear it like it's from their uncle, and that's how I explain history.

I'm just a normal guy and blue-collar historian, and people keep tuning in.

My father was an amazing guy. Twenty years in the Navy, great father.

Being a middle-class family back in the 1970s meant we only had one TV... and it wasn't in your room... so when I was 8 years old, I began developing a passion for reading history, and it's never stopped.

I was a businessman for a long time before I was a celebrity.

When you come across something, and its quality is just outrageous, that's probably something of value. It's been that way for hundreds and hundreds of years - the really, really expensive stuff is also really, really high quality.

People come from all over the world to be on the show, and it still works because of all the interesting items coming in.

That's the beautiful thing about my show... It's truly different every week. We get to pick and choose. Every morning, the girl from production comes to me with 100 different items, and I go, 'Fake, fake, fake, fake... that's cool.'

I can't work 12 hours a day, every day for too long before it burns out.

Pawn shops have been around for thousands of years - they were the number one form of consumer credit up until the 1950s, but we were vilified by Hollywood. We were easy people to vilify.

I got the Pawnbroker of the Year award. They said I did more for the pawn business in one year than their media team, in 30 years, has been able to do.

It's like a golden rule in the pawn business: never cash a government check.

The people who pawn stuff never want to be on the show. And the reason behind that, I find out, is when people are pawning something, it's - they're getting a loan. They have to admit they're broke. For some reason or the other, something has happened, or they're financially irresponsible.

The only time I have a problem is when I have to get in a vehicle after we play and sit there in a cramped position for a couple of hours to drive to the next place. Then I get super stiff.

Have a good work ethic. You've got to practice, practice, practice. I'm not telling you what to practice - that's up to you.

If you can make it in Rockford, you can make it anywhere.

I did what I believed in. It got me in trouble, but it also got me a job.

I knew the guys in the Allman Brothers way back in the day, before they were famous.

I've owned about 2,000 guitars through the years because I've traded a lot and given away and sold some stuff.

Nobody wants to hear long speeches.

We always record with the whole band. That's key to capturing the feel, especially trying to get a good basic track.

I always use my Les Paul. I have a Hamer as well. I use a Tele and an Esquire - once in a while, I will use a Strat, and I never use any pedals... except for in my car.

My parents were both opera singers, and they also were both heavily into religious and church music.

I think I've probably had one of my guitars on display at every Hard Rock Cafe in the world.

The Sex Pistols had it all - they had the snarl, they had the I-don't-give-a-crap attitude - plus, they could play.

The Ramones were American, and I knew about them, and I thought they were interesting. But they were like a pop band to me.

I was never going to be very cute. I always looked for the best people to play with and, 'cause, to make myself look better.

If you're going to be ridiculous, be over-the-top ridiculous.

Every person I've ever met always thinks their parents are weird.

I'd rather be musical than technical.

I can't stand it when groups come back for an encore, and they play some slow thing. Oh, brother! It's like, 'Had I known that, I would've left.'

Our band is rock n' roll. We were never just a studio band trying to make everything perfect. It was never supposed to be perfect. It was supposed to be cool.

We played with AC/DC. There are actual recordings of us doing 'Johnny B Good' together.

I have too many options when it comes to guitars.

I've taken all the mirrors out of my house because when I'm playing onstage, I feel like I'm still in high school. I feel like that kid that wanted to play in his first band, and then I look in a mirror, and it's like, 'Uh-oh!' It ain't pretty.

People are like, 'Why are you playing that five-neck guitar?' I want to hurt. I want to play.

Some people collect this or that. I'm a musician; I collect guitars.

It's an honor that people give a crap about us. We're in a rock band; we're not supposed to be treated with any respect.

I have four warehouses full of stuff. I have every boarding pass of every flight I've ever been on. I have all the old contracts that we had from all the clubs and concerts we played, every one of them, up from 1980. Guitar picks and amps - it goes on and on.

We're a band's band. We have real songs, real players, real problems. Real ups, real downs.

We may not be proud of every song we've ever done - or been forced to do - but I believe we've done more than meets the eye.

We tried to act trendy. We took one of our songs and tried to make a dance mix. They put it on the turntables, unannounced, in Los Angeles and New York the same weekend, where they had a big dance crowd going wild. It cleared the floor on both coasts.

There's no way we could make up what we are. The group is just what everyone is. Each of us has a different audience.

No one knows this, but when I would play the clubs back in '65, '66, they used to call me 'Screaming Chicken,' 'cause I would go out and scream, fall on the ground, beat myself, smash stuff, jump through the ceiling, roll on the floor, and act like I was having epileptic fits.

To me, a day off is sitting at a piano or with a guitar and writing.

I think every one of our songs could be a Top 10 record.

I don't like the term 'rock star.'

We're known as a touring band, not a singles band.