123 Inspiring Johnny Cash Quotes on Life, Music, Love and Success

American singer and songwriter Johnny Cash, born February 26, 1932, reshaped country and western music.

Raised amidst the music of the rural South, Cash began crafting songs during his military service.

Post-service, he ventured into music in Memphis, Tennessee, earning attention with songs like “Cry, Cry, Cry,” and “I Walk the Line.”

Johnny Cash

Known as the “Man in Black,” Cash’s music often addressed the working poor and social issues.

However, his career wavered in the 1960s due to drug addiction. With the help of June Carter, he rejuvenated his career, resulting in impactful works like “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison” and “Johnny Cash at San Quentin”.

Despite a late 1980s downturn, Cash’s career experienced a resurgence in the 1990s under Rick Rubin’s American Recordings.

Related: Alice Coltrane Quotes from American Jazz Musician and Joey Jordison Quotes from the Slipknot Drummer (American Musician)

He won numerous awards, including 13 Grammys and was elected to the Country Music and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His life inspired the 2005 film “Walk the Line.”

I have selected the top Johnny Cash quotes for you.


Best Johnny Cash Quotes

quotes-about-johnny-cash

When God forgave me, I figured I’d better do it too. ~ Johnny Cash.

Life and love go on, let the music play. ~ Johnny Cash.

Everything I have and everything I do is now given completely to Jesus Christ. ~ Johnny Cash.

I’ve been flushed from the bathroom of your heart. ~ Johnny Cash.

God ain’t no stained glass window, cause he never keeps his window closed. ~ Johnny Cash.

Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money. ~ Johnny Cash.

If you aren’t gonna say exactly how and what you feel, you might as well not say anything at all. ~ Johnny Cash.

He went up to heaven, located his dog. Not only that, but he rejoined his arm. ~ Johnny Cash.

Death and hell are never full, and neither are men’s eyes. ~ Johnny Cash.

As sure as God made black and white, what’s done in the dark will be brought to the light. ~ Johnny Cash.

Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkly clothes, and cowboy boots. I decided to wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I did and I’ve worn black clothes ever since. ~ Johnny Cash.

I start a lot more songs than I finish, because I realize when I get into them, they’re no good. I don’t throw them away, I just put them away, store them, get them out of sight. ~ Johnny Cash.

I learn from my mistakes. It’s a very painful way to learn, but without pain, the old saying is, there’s no gain. ~ Johnny Cash.

There is a spiritual side to me that goes real deep, but I confess right up front that I’m the biggest sinner of them all. ~ Johnny Cash.

Get rhythm when you get the blues. ~ Johnny Cash.

I wear the black for those who never read. ~ Johnny Cash.

Top Johnny Cash Quotes

Life is the question and life is the answer, and God is the reason and love is the way. ~ Johnny Cash.

I read novels but I also read the Bible. And study it, you know? And the more I learn, the more excited I get. ~ Johnny Cash.

I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion – against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas. ~ Johnny Cash.

quotes-on-johnny-cash

We’re all in this together if we’re in it at all. ~ Johnny Cash.

My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand on you. You’ll be singing for the world someday. ~ Johnny Cash.

There’s no way around grief and loss: you can dodge all you want, but sooner or later you just have to go into it, through it, and, hopefully, come out the other side. The world you find there will never be the same as the world you left. ~ Johnny Cash.

I love Bob Dylan, I really do. I love his early work, I love the first time he plugged in electrically, I love his Christian albums, I love his other albums. ~ Johnny Cash.

Inside the walls of a prison my body may be, but my Lord has set my soul free. ~ Johnny Cash.

I wear black because I’m comfortable in it. But then in the summertime when it’s hot I’m comfortable in light blue. ~ Johnny Cash.

Truth, said the Master, cannot be hid But he didn’t say slap it in the face of my kids. ~ Johnny Cash.

Inspirational Johnny Cash Quotes

How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man. ~ Johnny Cash.

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space. ~ Johnny Cash.

The ones that you’re calling wild are going to be the leaders in a little while. ~ Johnny Cash.

Don’t take voice lessons. Do it your way. ~ Johnny Cash.

I don’t like it, but I guess things happen that way. ~ Johnny Cash.

When I record somebody else’s song, I have to make it my own or it doesn’t feel right. I’ll say to myself, I wrote this and he doesn’t know it! ~ Johnny Cash.

I am not a Christian artist, I am an artist who is a Christian. ~ Johnny Cash.

I like to sit on the front porch of an old cabin I built in the woods and just listen to the birds; I like to fish in the pond and I always throw the fish back. ~ Johnny Cash.

You’ve got to know your limitations. I don’t know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren’t too many limitations, if I did it my way. ~ Johnny Cash.

You miss a lot of opportunities by making mistakes, but that’s part of it: knowing that you’re not shut out forever, and that there’s a goal you still can reach. ~ Johnny Cash.

When you sing, you pray twice. ~ Johnny Cash.

Thoughtful Johnny Cash Quotes

Somehow there’s been an immediate bonding between total strangers. We share each other’s triumphs, and when one of us gets hurt, we all bleed – it’s corny, I know, but it’s true. ~ Johnny Cash.

Stop your ears and close your eyes and try to find the face of love. ~ Johnny Cash.

It’s like a novelist writing far out things. If it makes a point and makes sense, then people like to read that. But if it’s off in left field and goes over the edge, you lose it. The same with musical talent, I think. ~ Johnny Cash.

When people ask me who my favorite country singer is, I say, ‘You mean besides George Jones?’ ~ Johnny Cash.

Life is rough so you gotta be tough. ~ Johnny Cash.

It’s good to believe in yourself, but there are people out there who can make or break you. ~ Johnny Cash.

If this were a movie I’d be the bad guy. ~ Johnny Cash.

I was wearing black clothes almost from the beginning. I feel comfortable in black. I felt like black looked good on stage, that it was attractive, so I started wearing it all the time. ~ Johnny Cash.

Follow your heart. That’s what I do. Compassion is something I have a lot of, because I’ve been through a lot of pain in my life. Anybody who has suffered a lot of pain has a lot of compassion. ~ Johnny Cash.

They’re powerful, those songs. At times they’ve been my only way back, the only door out of the dark, bad places the black dog calls home. ~ Johnny Cash.

Canadian Railroad Trilogy is an extremely fine piece of songwriting. ~ Johnny Cash.

Motivational Johnny Cash Quotes

I’m not bitter. Why should I be bitter? I’m thrilled to death with life. ~ Johnny Cash.

best-johnny-cash-quotes

Loneliness is emptiness, but happiness is you. ~ Johnny Cash.

Gospel music is so ingrained into my bones. I can’t do a concert without singing a gospel song. It’s what I was raised on. ~ Johnny Cash.

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine I keep my eyes wide open all the time I keep the ends out for the tie that binds Because you’re mine, I walk the line. ~ Johnny Cash.

Beneath the stains of time the feeling disappears, you are someone else I am still right here. ~ Johnny Cash.

When I was arrested I was dressed in black. ~ Johnny Cash.

I took the easy way, and to an extent I regret that. Still, though, the way we did it was honest. We played it and sang it the way we felt it, and there’s a lot to be said for that. ~ Johnny Cash.

No matter how much you’ve sinned, no matter how much you’ve stumbled, no matter how much you fall, no matter how far you’ve got from God, don’t give up. You can still be redeemed. As someone says, keep the faith. ~ Johnny Cash.

God’s the final judge for Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash too. That’s solely in the hands of God. ~ Johnny Cash.

I love the freedoms we got in this country, I appreciate your freedom to burn your flag if you want to, but I really appreciate my right to bear arms so I can shoot you if you try to burn mine. ~ Johnny Cash.

Wise Johnny Cash Quotes

Gospel music was the thing that inspired me as a child growing up on a cotton farm, where work was drudgery and it was so hard that when I was in the field I sang all the time. Usually gospel songs because they lifted me up above that black dirt. ~ Johnny Cash.

Love is a burning thing and it makes a firey ring. ~ Johnny Cash.

If you’re going to be a Christian, you’re going to change. You’re going to lose some old friends, not because you want to, but because you need to. ~ Johnny Cash.

Because you’re mine, I walk the line. ~ Johnny Cash.

The gospel of Christ must always be an open door with a welcome sign for all. ~ Johnny Cash.

I love to go to the studio and stay there 10 or 12 hours a day. I love it. What is it? I don’t know. It’s life. ~ Johnny Cash.

Money can’t buy back your youth when you’re old, a friend when you’re lonely, or peace to your soul. ~ Johnny Cash.

You’re so heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good. ~ Johnny Cash.

My mother always told me that any talent is a gift of God and I always believed it. If I quit, I would just live in front of the television and get fat and die pretty soon. ~ Johnny Cash.

When I was a baby, my mama told me son, always be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns. But I shot a man in Reno. ~ Johnny Cash.

Famous Johnny Cash Quotes

The battle against the dark one and the clinging to the right one is what my life is about. ~ Johnny Cash.

I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. ~ Johnny Cash.

It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks. ~ Johnny Cash.

This morning, with her, having coffee. ~ Johnny Cash.

I’m very shy really. I spend a lot of time in my room alone reading or writing or watching television. ~ Johnny Cash.

Some gal would giggle and I’d get red, and some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his head. I tell ya, life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue. ~ Johnny Cash.

I don’t give up because I don’t give up. I don’t believe in it. ~ Johnny Cash.

I knew I wanted to sing when I was a very small boy. When I was probably 4 years old. My mother played a guitar and I would sit with her and she would sing and I learned to sing along with her. ~ Johnny Cash.

top-johnny-cash-quotes

The more I learn, the more excited I get. ~ Johnny Cash.

I expect my life to end pretty soon. You know, I’m 71 years old. I have great faith, though. I have unshakable faith. ~ Johnny Cash.

The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars. ~ Johnny Cash.

Inspiring Johnny Cash Quotes

People call me wild. Not really though, I’m not. I guess I’ve never been normal, not what you call Establishment. I’m country. ~ Johnny Cash.

Understand your man, meditate on it. ~ Johnny Cash.

The hardest thing for me in Vietnam wasn’t seeing the wounded and dead. It was watching the big transport jets come in, bringing loads of fresh new boys for the war. ~ Johnny Cash.

God gives us life and takes us away as He sees fit. ~ Johnny Cash.

He was removed from jail and placed in a place for the insensitive and insane. ~ Johnny Cash.

I could wrap myself in the warm cocoon of a song and go anywhere. ~ Johnny Cash.

When my wife died, I booked myself into the studio just to work, to occupy myself. ~ Johnny Cash.

I’m thrilled to death with life. ~ Johnny Cash.

Come on boys, you must listen unto me, lay off the whiskey and let that cocaine be. ~ Johnny Cash.

I have tried drugs and a little of everything else, and there is nothing in the world more soul-satisfying than having the kingdom of God building inside you and growing. ~ Johnny Cash.

There’s no more simple life with simple choices for the young. ~ Johnny Cash.

I knew Bob Dylan was searching for the truth and had been for years. And anyone who Really wants the truth ends up at Jesus. ~ Johnny Cash.

For you I know I’d even try to turn the tide. ~ Johnny Cash.

Deep in the heart of the infinite darkness, a tiny blue marble is spinning through space. Born in the splendor of God’s holy vision, and sliding away like a tear down his face. ~ Johnny Cash.

All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate. I choose love. ~ Johnny Cash.

We’ll all be equal under the grass, and God’s got a heaven for country trash. ~ Johnny Cash.

My daddy left home when I was three and he didn’t leave much to Ma and me, just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze. ~ Johnny Cash.

It’s good to know who hates you and it is good to be hated by the right people. ~ Johnny Cash.

I wear black for those who never read or listen to the words that Jesus said, about the road to happiness, through love and charity. ~ Johnny Cash.

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. ~ Johnny Cash.

He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand, and tried to tell himself at last he had become a man. ~ Johnny Cash.

All music comes from God. ~ Johnny Cash.

Could it be the girls and boys are trying to be heard above your noise? ~ Johnny Cash.

Flesh and blood needs flesh and blood, and you’re the one I need. ~ Johnny Cash.

Creative people have to be fed from the divine source. I have to get fed. I had to get filled up in order to pour out. ~ Johnny Cash.

I just hope and pray I can die with my boots on. ~ Johnny Cash.

You have to be what you are. Whatever you are, you gotta be it. ~ Johnny Cash.

I came to believe in a power much higher than I. ~ Johnny Cash.

Unique Johnny Cash Quotes

Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight. ~ Johnny Cash.

Those that have lived longer than us always have something to teach us, that we can take with us for the rest of our lives. ~ Johnny Cash.

A rose looks grey at midnight, but the flame is just asleep. And steel is strong because it knows the hammer and white heat. ~ Johnny Cash.

When I think about country music, I think about America. ~ Johnny Cash.

I’m thankful for the sea breeze that feels so good right now, and the scent of jasmine when the sun starts going down. ~ Johnny Cash.

It’s all fleeting. As fame is fleeting, so are all the trappings of fame fleeting. The money, the clothes, the furniture. ~ Johnny Cash.

There’s a lot of things blamed on me that never happened. But then, there’s a lot of things that I did that I never got caught at. ~ Johnny Cash.

Convicts are the best audience I ever played for. ~ Johnny Cash.

My father was a man of love. He always loved me to death. He worked hard in the fields, but my father never hit me. Never. I don’t ever remember a really cross, unkind word from my father. ~ Johnny Cash.

A person knows when it just seems to feel right to them. Listen to your heart. ~ Johnny Cash.

famous-johnny-cash-quotes

My arms are too short to box with God. ~ Johnny Cash.

Of travel I’ve had my share, man, I’ve been everywhere. ~ Johnny Cash.

Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does. ~ Johnny Cash.

What have I become, my sweetest friend. Everyone I know goes away, in the end. ~ Johnny Cash.

The fire and excitement may be gone now that we don’t go out there and sing them anymore, but the ring of fire still burns around you and I, keeping our love hotter than a pepper sprout. ~ Johnny Cash.


So these were the 123 top Johnny Cash quotes about life, love, country music and emotions.

If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Toni Morrison quotes and Mae West quotes.

Share with others!
Chandan Negi
Chandan Negi

I’m the Founder of Internet Pillar - I love sharing quotes and motivational content to inspire and motivate people - #quotes #motivation #internetpillar