Top 130 Quotes & Sayings by Sam Hunt

I had some interesting costumes... the one that I remember right offhand is Zorro when I was a lot younger. I was a big time Zorro fan. My mom helped me make it, and I remember having a big issue with the fact that she wouldn't let me carry around a real metal sword; it just had to be plastic.

I'm still learning a lot as a songwriter. I try to write down and make a note of ideas that I cross paths with on a day-to-day basis, whether it be a conversation or something I hear on the radio, seeing a movie, or just thoughts in my head as I'm walking down the street.

I get the best inspiration or the most creativity from real emotions.

You want to stand out and be unique and do something different. I always try to zig when they zag - I guess it's a football term, but it applies to a lot of different areas of life.

I don't know where my fashion sense comes from, exactly. I've always been interested in, not necessarily being unique, but not necessarily sticking to the preexisting paradigm - whether it be clothes or music or whatever.

The key to me is being different not for the sake of being different, but being the most authentic version of what you do. And definitely it takes a willingness to be different, because there was resistance for me early on, and I feel like that's usually the case when there's a certain paradigm or trend happening, and you step outside of that.

I was pretty gung-ho about music and pursuing that and figuring that whole thing out, so I was wide-eyed and ready to go when I moved to Nashville. I never looked back.

Folks in Alabama seem like folks in Georgia to me. I feel like you can just about combine the two.

Respect for women was a very important part of my upbringing.

Any chance to get out and play live for some people and get out of the studio is nice.

I love being outside, I do a lot of hunting.

When I graduated high school, I bought a guitar and, at first, didn't really think I'd get into the songwriting thing as much as I did. But after learning a few songs of other people's to play on the guitar, I got bored with that and just started writing songs on my own, and that's kinda how it came about.

My route is a little bit nontraditional. A lot of the people working in Nashville, they have a model. I don't really fit into that.

Sometimes I'm not even aware of some of the issues going on with me in my life until I sit down and start kind of looking for inspiration, trying to find something that inspires that creativity.

To all my people back in Nashville who have been there from the start, you put your faith in me. You were there for the long haul.

It took me a couple years to get over the stereotype I was letting myself get caught up on, being a football player trying to start a career in music.

I kept hearing all these rules: 'You can't say that in country music.' 'You can't use that kind of beat.' I became so frustrated. It may have slingshotted me, in a rebellious way, toward doing something different.

I have a whole, whole lot of respect for the men and women that serve our country.

I wanted to be a bull rider when I grew up.

I think of a song in terms of lyrics and stories, and that's what keeps it country for me.

I drove right into the music with the same sort of attitude as I went into the football stuff with. Just found a routine and hard work, and it helped me progress a lot faster.

I wish I could make multiple records, stylistically. The way that I'm gonna remedy that is to make a diverse record with a lot of different styles on one record.

Football sometimes is stressful. Music is more of a kind of laid-back type, chilled-out kind of activity. It kind of keeps me balanced, I guess.

I do think I'm country, but your definition of that word might be different from my definition. In my opinion, country music, the sound of country, has always evolved. But the one thing that has not changed is the story element. And I think country songs are truthful songs about life written by country people.

I like disagreement because it forces both sides to question their own opinions and why they feel that way.

Some people don't like long bus rides, but I love them. There's sort of a sense of solitude.

Within the songwriting community, there are these unwritten rules for the way that a song should be written in country music, and I think that those rules are constantly being broken over the years, and the molds change and the process is evolving.

I was a big music fan, but I never bought a bunch of records or was very educated, I guess, on who was who or what was what.

I'm conflicted about the lyric tattoo thing. I feel like that's a lifetime decision, and I always feel like, 'I hope you don't regret this a couple years from now when you get tired of that song.'

When I was really young, my babysitters had horses, and I started riding them.

I'm not trying to become a pop artist, and I'm not trying to make sure I stay a country artist. I'm just trying to make sure I make the best music I can, according to my way.

I think that people in general appreciate honesty and not trying to cook something up just to fit a mold that would be beneficial for you. I never made music like that.

I study what's happening in music. I want to sound different than everybody else.

The money factor had been kind of my excuse as to why I hadn't put out any music. So I just found the cheapest way to make music and get it to people, and that was via the Internet.

When somebody's never heard you, that's the way to do it: Just give them music for free and let them decide for themselves if they like it or not.

I got a horse when I was eight or 10 years old. And dad used to take me to the rodeo back home. I got into it big time.

I don't know that I've ever bought anything online. I'm about 10 years behind the technological curve, I think.

I've had a lot of folks tell me that my songs weren't quite country because they didn't really sound like anybody that had come along and done it before me. I felt a little out of place for a while.

I don't like the idea that in music, clothes, taste or anything, we are limited to a certain style, because we need to maintain an identity, maybe between some subculture group. Hopefully, all those walls break down, and music is just music.

I realized that I could try to sound like Waylon Jennings, or I could try to be like Waylon Jennings... but it's impossible to do both.

I played quarterback, and it was a leadership position, and even though I'm doing a solo thing now, a lot of my success is a part of assembling this team of people who are really, really talented, and their position doesn't put them out front the way mine does, but it's still a team effort.

We try not to pull any punches and be straightforward, and I think that's what helped us connect with everybody across the board.

I've always really liked the rhythm element of songs.

There's not a day goes by that I don't appreciate the freedom that I have to make music and tour and spend time with my family.

I have two or three guys that I'm really close to. We have a great friendship, and I think that helps our songwriting relationship. It's hard to start... with new people and cover the ground that I've covered with those guys.

On my teams, as a guy who grew up hunting and fishing, I was in the minority in terms of music and lifestyle. I became good friends with people who listened to R&B and rap. But it wasn't just an issue of being around it - I was naturally drawn to it right off the bat.

I like to come up with lots of different sounds. So the final version of a song might have been 10 completely different songs before we finally got it right.

My golf game is lacking big time.

I am from the country, and I grew up mostly influenced by country music.

A lot of the lessons that are taught in football will promote success in anything you get into after football; for me, it just happens to be music. Being disciplined. Good character. Trying to do the right thing, and working hard.

I experimented and explored ways to find my own niche in Nashville, and I was having trouble with it for a while because stylistically, I didn't feel like I necessarily fit in.

A good story gives you more of a license to be forward and progressive with the music.

By no means do I want to try to leave country music. That's absolutely where I want to stay.

Maybe one day music will just be music, and there won't be these categories; it'll just be different shades of music.

Whatever's going on in my life shows up in the writing room.

It's good to be proud of your heritage and your culture, but pride can be perverted.

I grew up really close to Alabama, about 10 minutes from the Alabama line. We'd make trips to Alabama, and I feel at home there.

The things that are going to be in all my records, for as long as I'm making them, are going to go back to who I am and where I'm from and the lifestyle that I live and come from - and I don't know how I could ever get any of that close enough to pop to be considered a pop act.

It wasn't until I was 18, when I was graduating high school, that I went and bought a guitar on a whim.

I don't get irrational about it, but I do have a deeply-rooted competitive spirit. Not necessarily towards other people, but towards any obstacle that I set for myself.