"Poverty was the greatest motivating factor in my life."

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

"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."

"God is bigger than people think."

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

"Love is an ice cream sundae, with all the marvelous coverings. Sex is the cherry on top."

"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."

"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."

"I used to help my granddaddy make sausage. He would mix it up in a cleaned-out washtub with his hands, no gloves. Man, if we did anything like that today, they would jack the jail up and throw us under it."