Top 50 Merle Haggard Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Lay in the weeds and wait, and when you get your chance to say something, say something good.”

— Merle Haggard

2. “A house without love ain’t a home.”

— Merle Haggard

3. “Faith is the only way we’re going to make it. None of us are smart enough to do it on our own.”

— Merle Haggard

4. “Stop rolling down hill like a snow ball headed for hell.”

— Merle Haggard

5. “We need to have music that contributes to the well-being of the spirit. Music that cradles people’s lives and makes things a little easier. That’s what I try to do, and what I want to do. You don’t want to close the door on hope.”

— Merle Haggard

6. “By the time you get close to the answers, it’s nearly all over.”

— Merle Haggard

7. “I wish coke was still cola and a joint was a bad place to be.”

— Merle Haggard

8. “Heaven knows that alcohol is the worst thing in the world, but it’s debatable whether cocaine is worse than caffeine or whether it’s the same thing and they just changed the name.”

— Merle Haggard

9. “There’s just a few people that call themselves stars can actually sit down with a guitar and sing you a song.”

— Merle Haggard

10. “I enjoy the videos with the sound off, where you can look at the belly buttons and everything. Really some pretty girls, but I don’t know about the music.”

— Merle Haggard

11. “To be part of what you’re singing about is somewhat painful. You’ve got to climb inside it all.”

— Merle Haggard

12. “I’ll tell you what the public likes more than anything, it’s the most rare commodity in the world – honesty.”

— Merle Haggard

13. “Hey, hey, the working man, the working man like me. I ain’t never been on welfare, that’s one place I won’t be.”

— Merle Haggard

14. “If I hear another line dance song I think I’m going to puke.”

— Merle Haggard

15. “I probably wouldn’t even be here now if it weren’t for chiropractic.”

— Merle Haggard

16. “It’s easier to force feed people than it is to give ’em what they want. It makes more money.”

— Merle Haggard

17. “The only thing that I miss lately in all music is somebody that will put out a melody that you can whistle. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything happening like that.”

— Merle Haggard

18. “At my age, I don’t buy but a half a loaf of bread, you know?”

— Merle Haggard

19. “Before the Beatles and yesterday, when a man could still work and still would.”

— Merle Haggard

20. “There’s one thing I never did do, and that was stink.”

— Merle Haggard

21. “Evolution is a laughing matter for anybody that’s got a rational mind.”

— Merle Haggard

22. “There’s been periods of broadcasts in the past where you could see all ages of entertainers, ranging from George Burns to Shirley Temple. That’s not the condition now.”

— Merle Haggard

23. “There’s a rumor that there may be an attempt at organizing a possible script for a series on my life, which, when you look at my police record, you’d have to have more than one hour to tell the story.”

— Merle Haggard

24. “Staring at the world through the bottom of a glass, all I see is a man who’s fading fast.”

— Merle Haggard

25. “We’re bar room buddies and we’re the best kind, nobody messes with that friend of mine. Chug-a-lug-a-lug-a-lugga, bar room buddy of mine.”

— Merle Haggard

26. “I’m proud to be an Oakie from Muskogee, a place where even squares can have a ball. We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse and white lightning’s still the biggest thrill of all.”

— Merle Haggard

27. “Momma tried to raise me better, but her pleading I denied, and that leaves only me to blame, cause Momma tried.”

— Merle Haggard

28. “We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee, we don’t take trips on LSD. We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street, we like living right and free.”

— Merle Haggard

29. “I’ve got one young family by the first wife, with four children.”

— Merle Haggard

30. “The one true friend I thought I’d found, tonight the bottle let me down.”

— Merle Haggard

31. “The Captain just gave us our orders, and Mom we must carry them through. I’ll finish this letter first chance I get, but for now I’ll just say I love you.”

— Merle Haggard

32. “Running down on a way of life our fighting men have fought and died to keep. If you don’t love it, leave it.”

— Merle Haggard

33. “Back when the country was strong, back before Elvis and before the Vietnam war came along.”

— Merle Haggard

Featured in: Strong Quotes

34. “It makes my wife mad, you know, she wants me to stay home all the time. But its what I’ve done all my life and I think when I quit doing it I’ll probably go away pretty quick.”

— Merle Haggard

35. “There’s two kind of cherries, and two kind of fairies, and two kind of mothers I’m told.”

— Merle Haggard

36. “No, it’s not love, but it’s not bad.”

— Merle Haggard

37. “My second wife Bonnie Owens and I worked together after we divorced for a period of maybe 20 years. And I managed to stay friends with another wife. And then there’s one that I don’t mess with. Everybody’s got one of those.”

— Merle Haggard

38. “It’s a long way from Graceland across Jordan to the Promised Land, but Jesus finally came to lead him home.”

— Merle Haggard

39. “Read about some squirrelly guy who claims that he just don’t believe in fighting, and I wonder how long the rest of us can count on being free.”

— Merle Haggard

40. “I had some surgery on my feet, which has helped my back some.”

— Merle Haggard

41. “Willie Nelson’s the one who told me the reason it costs so much to get divorced is because it’s worth it.”

— Merle Haggard

42. “HAG Records, is a company that I’ve owned. I’ve had a couple of gospel releases on it. We developed a pretty good distribution setup there and we do have something to use in case they don’t want to sign us.”

— Merle Haggard

43. “I think I’m most proud of my family right now. I’m more into that then I’ve ever been. It also gives a new area to draw from in creativity with my songs.”

— Merle Haggard

44. “My 10 year old son likes it. He’s trying to play guitar and everything. He likes that kind of music.”

— Merle Haggard

45. “It sounds like something from a Woody Guthrie song, but it’s true; I was raised in a freight car.”

— Merle Haggard

46. “Sometimes if you get ‘em too drunk they don’t pay no attention to what you’re doin’ anyways, so you might as well just do old songs. But if you get one that’s paying attention, sometimes we’ll do some new material.”

— Merle Haggard

47. “I was 48-years old before anybody talked me into it for medicinal purposes, instead of some of these drugs that they give you that will lead you to heart surgery and things of that nature.”

— Merle Haggard

48. “Despite of all my Sunday learnin’, toward the bad I kept turning.”

— Merle Haggard

49. “I haven’t had any problems with my back since I got the foot surgery.”

— Merle Haggard

50. “I’ve got two families.”

— Merle Haggard