Chet Atkins Quotes

#1. I tended to lean towards the guys who both sang and played, such as Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner ... And at the other end of the spectrum, I had Eric Clapton in a rock and blues sense, jazz guys such as Tal Farlow and Les Paul ... Then Chet Atkins-type stuff.

Brad Paisley

#2. I only wish Chet Atkins could be here for this joyous occasion.

Brenda Lee

#3. I have been fortunate enough to record several singles and a whole album with Chet Atkins.

Suzy Bogguss

#4. There only have been two people on this earth that I was nervous around: Chet Atkins and Mickey Mantle. It's because of the respect I have for them.

Charley Pride

#5. You know, in the days when I started, if you had Chet Atkins' name on your record as a producer and it was on RCA, you could work the road. It didn't have to be a big hit record, it just had to have that on it.

Waylon Jennings

#6. Chet Atkins ... is probably the best guitar player who ever lived.

Charley Pride

#7. There's no great guitarist that doesn't sit down and listen to Chet Atkins and Eddie Van Halen, and all these other great players.

Lee Ann Womack

#8. There is a great book out called 'Everything I Needed to Learn I Learned in Kindergarten,' and I believe that everything I ever needed to learn on guitar was in my first two years of hungry learning: Scotty Moore, Hank Marvin, Chet Atkins, Lenny Breau, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.

Randy Bachman

#9. I did recording sessions as a musician as well as a background vocalist and enjoyed every minute of it. I remember singing harmony with Waylon Jennings on a few songs that were hits. Chet Atkins always put me up so high that I strained to hit every note. It was a lot of fun.

Ray Stevens

#10. All I can say is that laughter is my music; I would deeply suspect an argument which hadn't laughter.

James Tiptree Jr.

#11. The last song I recorded with [Hank Williams, Sr.] was "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." I remember thinking, "Hoss, you're not just jivin'," because he was so weak that all he could do was sing a few lines and then just fall in the chair.

Chet Atkins

#12. I think because I came into journalism by way of the Black Panther Party - and not J-school or a corporate bourgeois institution - I tried to do news, writing and reporting that had social, political and racial content and context.

Mumia Abu-Jamal

#13. It takes a lot of devotion and work, or maybe I should say play, because if you love it, that's what it amounts to I haven't found any shortcuts, and I've been looking for a long time.

Chet Atkins

#14. Everything I've ever done was out of fear of being mediocre.

Chet Atkins

#15. Years from now, after I'm gone, someone will listen to what I've done and know I was here. They may not know or care who I was, but they'll hear my guitars speaking for me.

Chet Atkins

#16. Once you become predictable, no one's interested anymore.

Chet Atkins

#17. Be wary of what you do with the attention social media gives you

Bernard Kelvin Clive

#18. I'll not hurt thee, says Uncle Toby, rising with the fly in his hand. Go, he says, opening the window to let it escape. Why should I hurt thee? This world is surely wide enough to hold both thee and me.

Laurence Sterne

#19. What I have said may serve to recommend mathematics for acquiring a vigorous constitution of mind; for which purpose they are as useful as exercise is for procuring health and strength to the body.

John Arbuthnot

#20. I'll always be poor in my mind.

Chet Atkins

#21. She could not distinguish between contrition and self-abasement; between acknowledgment and blame.

Stephen R. Donaldson

#22. When I was a little boy, I told my dad, 'When I grow up, I want to be a musician.' My dad said: 'You can't do both, Son'.

Chet Atkins

#23. Do it again on the next verse, and people think you meant it.

Chet Atkins

#24. Here is the world to which I am condemned, in which, despite myself, I must somehow live.' I said.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

#25. Music shortens the distance between all people.

Jeffrey Fry

#26. Elvis changed the country music scene quite a bit; he almost put country music out of business.

Chet Atkins

#27. Copying one person is stealing. Copying ten is research.

Chet Atkins

#28. God as my witness, may He strike me down if this allegation is true.

Paul Crouch

#29. If the world is irrational, we can never know it
either it or its irrationality.

Edward Abbey

#30. The call-and-response rituals of geeks were a thing of beauty, and allowed said geeks to identify each other across time and space.

Atom Yang

#31. You want a little talent on that?

Chet Atkins

#32. Algebraic!
--Finn, Adventure Time

Finn

#33. Our company has to be a company that enables its people.

Steve Ballmer

#34. If you hear something you like, and you're halfway like the public, chances are they'll like it too.

Chet Atkins

#35. Approach your guitar intelligently, and if there are limits, don't deny them. Work within your restrictions. Somethings you can do better than others, some things you can't do as well. So accentuate the positive.

Chet Atkins

#36. Ray Cummins is my good friend and one of the best finger pickers around.

Chet Atkins

#37. Never deceive a friend.

Hipparchus

#38. You shape your own destiny.

Chet Atkins

#39. It took me 20 years to learn I couldn't tune too well. And by that time I was too rich to care.

Chet Atkins

#40. My head is like some ridiculous barn packed full of stuff I want to write about.

Haruki Murakami

#41. Everyone has their own sound, and if you're heard enough, folks will come to recognize it. Style however, is a different thing. Try to express your own ideas. It's much more difficult to do, but the rewards are there if you're good enough to pull it off ...

Chet Atkins

#42. A long apprenticeship is the most logical way to success. The only alternative is overnight stardom, but I can't give you a formula for that.

Chet Atkins