Tim McGraw is one of the most recognizable and successful artists in the history of the genre.
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To date, McGraw has released 16 studio albums and 10 of those have reached No. 1 on the country charts. Songs like “It’s Your Love,” “Just to See You Smile” and “Live Like You Were Dying” have reached the top of the charts, as well. McGraw has also won three Grammy Awards, 14 ACM awards, 11 CMA awards, and 10 AMA awards.
[RELATED: The Top 10 Tim McGraw Songs]
Married to country star Faith Hill, McGraw boasts record sales of more than 80 million albums globally. But what does the artist (and son of former MLB pitcher, Tug McGraw) have to say about life and love, his craft, and the world at large outside of his many hit songs?
Here, we will dive into those answers. These are the 23 best Tim McGraw quotes.
1. “Everyone should have their own opinion and be able to voice it. No matter what it is. Of course, that does not mean your opinion is always right. But, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion.”
2. “I feel like I’m learning all the time. I’m learning from new artists, from established artists… every time I listen to ’70s rock ‘n’ roll records, I’m learning. And I think that I’m just now starting to get a hold on what I do.”
3. “When I was a kid, my stepdad started this business and would go out and get lost cows and stuff. He was a part-time truck driver, farmer, and cowboy. He taught me how to ride from an early age.”
4. “No, there will come a time when I’m not gonna do this anymore. I mean, there will come a time, definitely, where I’ll turn into Elvis—I’m gonna be fat and fishin’, I guarantee you.”
5. “I think you have to be a little bit strict. You can’t be a friend and their parent in a lot of situations, especially in this day and age where it’s so dangerous for kids. So there’s a bit of sternness, I guess, in the way I raise my kids.”
6. “Five years ago I figured we were at the top of our game and that was the best it was going to get, but with every album, it seems to keep on building on itself.”
[RELATED: Tim McGraw Shares Soul-Searching Single “Standing Room Only”]
7. “I don’t want to make that sound like I’m preaching from a mountaintop when I say you have to give your family everything, because I know it’s hard for people. I’m lucky to be in a position where you can establish those ground rules and make it that way.”
8. “You know, we’re very private, and I think that we really separate and try to keep our privacy to ourselves. There’s things that people assume a lot of times, and we understand that people are interested, but we really try to keep our family life private as much as we can.”
9. “We’re parents first, and once you have kids, everybody knows that you have priority lists. Number one is your family and everything else just kind of finds its place.”
10. “I coach my daughter’s softball and basketball team. We go to all the school functions. We go out to eat at night and take the kids to the movies. We try to be as normal as we can.”
11. “I always want to learn but I am sure on my dying day I will feel like I left something in the bucket.”
12. “But I was so wrapped up in sports growing up as a kid, that I think I was going to grow to be a pro ball player. But I found out real quick that was not going to happen.”
13. “I have three daughters, so I can’t be as tough as I want to be. When you have kids—especially daughters—they know how to work you. They’re a lot smarter than we are, that’s for sure. But I’ll be more tough on their boyfriends.”
14. “I want to run for the Senate from Tennessee. Not now, but when I’m 50 when music dies down a little bit. I know lots of artists and actors have those delusions of grandeur, but ever since I was a kid, it’s been of interest to me.”
15. “I mean, there’s a little bit that gets out, but for the most part, the thing that makes us work, and makes our family successful, and our life successful, is when we walk home and we walk into our doors of our house, all that other stuff is left outside. It’s not a factor.”
16. “I’m coming up on 40 next year, and after making so many records and doing music for so long, I’m looking for a change and a different perspective. And every now and then, I think I have something I want to say.”
17. “We’re very blessed, just very fortunate to have the things we have.”
18. “I live in a house with four women. Just shut up and say, ‘Yes, ma’am.'”
19. “You don’t try to get influenced by everything that’s going on with all the other music around you. You don’t listen to the radio—I mean, I don’t. When I get ready to do an album, I don’t listen to anybody else; I don’t wanna be influenced.”
20. “Country radio went through a time where they were trying to pigeonhole everybody, and trying to make the gap really narrow, and I think that they’ve opened that up a little bit.”
21. “The issues that matter to me are the social safety nets for people, health care, and middle-class concerns. We need to take care of the middle class and the poor in our country.”
22. “It’s innate in me to be a Democrat—a true Southern populist kind of Democrat. There’s not a lot of those anymore. I’m not saying I’m right or wrong. That’s just the way I feel.”
23. “I’m a private guy, and you don’t want to be out there preaching to people. But faith leads you in the decisions you make. You don’t always pick the right path, but it’s there in your conscience.”
Photo by Robby Klein / Full Coverage Communications
