Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Johnny Van Zant

If people want to own a rifle or something like that for hunting purposes only, I tend to agree with that. But semi-automatic weapons and handguns, that's just unreal. I mean, what good are handguns?

That's your end goal anyway, is to make the fans happy.

I'm a Republican myself, though I think there are actually some Democrats in Lynyrd Skynyrd.

You don't go to some other country and bash our president.

They're great songs. How many bands wouldn't like to have a 'Freebird' or 'Sweet Home Alabama' to play every night?

Most of our fans are the hardworking people of the world. They are the people who have made this country great.

I saw B.B. King in concert one time where he had this guy that would bring him out a glass of water and towel to wipe his forehead with.

We have a lot of friends who are hunters. And you know what? Come hunting season, man, they head to the woods, you know. And again, this country was built on God and guns, folks. I mean, it really was.

I'm very proud to be from Jacksonville.

We write stories about common people and common things. That's what Skynyrd always is about - the real working class of America.

In my opinion, the only people who should have handguns are the police.

If it wasn't for Al Kooper, there might not be a Lynyrd Skynyrd. He's the one who found us at Pinocchio's in Atlanta, Georgia, and signed us to Sounds Of The South through MCA, brought the band to attention.

When you're 17, touring is fun.

I'm a lover of old traditional country - George Jones, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Marty Roberts.

We don't get home enough.

The fans have always been there for us, and they've realized when we were going through a hard time.

I actually quit the business. I went and drove a truck for a year and a half.

I just love going out and playing my brother's songs.

As Christians, it's our duty to stand up for what we believe - that's called testifying.

My dad was a truck driver, and from the time I was knee high to a grapevine, I was driving a truck.

I was a Skynyrd fan all along. But I was also the brother of the lead singer who passed on. I just didn't want to do anything that would harm the band's name.

When we are out on the road, running up and down the road playing shows, you have to be not only a member of a band but, especially with Lynyrd Skynyrd, you have to be a part of the Skynyrd nation. You have to be a part of the family.

Every redneck's dream is to write a song and have it go on a fishing show.

David Allan Coe actually went to jail one time. Some fan cursed Lynyrd Skynyrd, and David Allan Coe kicked his teeth in. He ran and kicked a guy's teeth in for saying something about Lynyrd Skynyrd.

If nothing else, we grew up loving the old blues artists and Ray Charles.

If you're only a fan of the old music, that music's gonna wind up sounding even older.

We always joke that our road crew will have to wheelchair us up onstage soon because this is what we do. This is what we love to do. This is what God put us on earth to do until the day we take our last breath.

We always pay tribute to what the old Lynyrd Skynyrd has done - I'm very proud of that.

To me, making a CD is like writing a book.

So many artists try to be something that they're not.

The last thing we want to do is disappoint the fans.

Everybody in Lynyrd Skynyrd loves different styles of music, and our minds are very open when it comes to writing our songs and making the band true to what the band is, but also stepping out and doing something current.

Lynyrd Skynyrd has always been a bunch of rowdy, crazy people, but we love our fans, and that's what the music is all about: touching them. Touching them touches us.

I didn't know if Skynyrd fans were going to throw rocks at me or eggs or what.

Johnny Colt is a character, and most people in Lynyrd Skynyrd are characters, so he fits in great with us. He's got an attitude, man, and I love it, and that's what we need.

I want to be there for the last note of 'Freebird' when that happens.

We're musicians; we're not politicians or anything.

We go to Europe, and they think we're totally prejudiced 'cause we hang the bars and stripes. But for us, the bars and stripes doesn't mean we want to see anybody in slavery or anything like that. It's just our heritage. To us, the bars and stripes means grits, 'y'all,' and the beauty of the South. There's no prejudice at all in that with us.

It is a scary world out there, and believe me that if someone were to try to come into my house, I want to be able to protect myself.

We write about things that we've done or things that have happened to people around us.

I kinda feel that my brother wrote some of the best country lyrics ever - 'The Ballad of Curtis Loew,' 'Mississippi Kid' and that little hit 'Sweet Home Alabama.'

Hank Junior fans are Skynyrd fans.

Some of the country stuff in the past has been so polished - if you were a guy with a nice pair of jeans, a big belt buckle and nice hat, you were country.

Who knows what the heck the future will bring.

We have doctors and lawyers and CEOs as fans.

I always try to relate a song to something what is going on, the working man, the times, how life goes.

This is America, and everybody should have a right to say what they want to say. But I think there's a time and a place for it.

We have to make a living, sure, but it's about the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd and what it stands for, what the fans are all about.

We are not saying that every idiot out there should own a gun - and there should be better background checks on guns. Not everybody should have the right.

When we were kids, we said the Pledge of Allegiance because we were proud of this country, and we said prayer. You know, we thanked the good Lord above.

Skynyrd is a big family. We have argued, fussed, and fought.

It's for the common people, people who have made this great country of ours. That's what the heck I say we always write about.

Music is a great healer.

We've done shows with Tim McGraw, Hank Williams Jr., Montgomery Gentry, Shooter Jennings.

People are asking us, 'Why have you gone country?' And we say, 'Man, we were born country.' They gave us the tag 'Southern rock' years ago as a way of not saying country.

When you're dealing with a big amount of money, you should have your own accountant and your own lawyer.

Two of my favorite bands, Blackberry Smoke and Black Stone Cherry, I just think both of those bands are a good new progressive kind of Southern Rock that's a little different than us but still has a rootsy thing going on.

Skynyrd just hasn't gotten its just due.

Skynyrd's not just a band; I think it's a lifestyle. It's iconic.

Families do not stop living. We have got to keep going on. This is what people do.