You don’t get played by Reese Witherspoon in a movie if you have nothing to say.
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That’s right, June Carter (or June Carter Cash) is one of country music’s most important figures. Not only she was the wife and equal of famed songwriter and performer Johnny Cash, but she began her career in the seminal group The Carter Family.
June, who is a five-time Grammy Award-winner, sang, played banjo, wrote songs, played guitar, and maintained an important name in music until her death in 2003.
But what did June have to say about life outside of songs, outside of her lyrics? What were her thoughts on love, family, and everything in between? That’s the very inquiry we’re invested in here today.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into the Best 12 June Carter quotes.
1. “I’ve flown out of character so many times. In that sense, I’ve been lucky, because I’ve been given the liberty to do just about anything I’ve wanted to do in my lifetime.”
2. “I’m just trying to matter.”
3. “I was never looking back in regret. I never thought, Oh, why didn’t I become an actress? or Why did I just go paddling along after John? I’ve always walked along right by his side, and he’s always supported everything I do.”
4. “He’s just like my father that way—my father just adored my mother and let her do whatever she wanted. John’s like that. He’s a very rare man, a very good man, and I’ve had a good life with him. I’m proud to be walking in the wake of Johnny’s fame.”
5. “I worked with John, but I had enough sense to walk just a little ways behind him. I could have made more records, but I wanted to have a marriage.”
6. “I stayed in submission to my husband, and he allowed me to do anything I wanted to. I felt like I was lucky to have that kind of romance.”
7. “We got married in a fever hotter than a pepper sprout.”
8. “How can you be any purer than pure if your name is Carter? How can you get away from being a Carter? There’s a part of you that’s gonna come through. How do you keep from doing it? It’s what you’re born to do.”
9. “Inside that book, it’s my life-all the places where I’m hurting or I laughed or I cried or I prayed. And I’ve had to pray a lot!”
10. “One morning, about four o’clock, I was driving my car just about as fast as I could. I thought, Why am I out this time of night? I was miserable, and it came to me: I’m falling in love with somebody I have no right to fall in love with.”
11. “Our lives are entwined with the people over the footlights. We are a part of them.”
12. “Every dog has its day unless he loses his tail, then he has a weak end.”
