The enticing allure of Nashville is that there is always something new coming down the pike. Put this record on and you’ll hear footsteps.
Tom T. HallRead
If they want to come out and watch me paint or dig potatoes or mend fences, I don't care. I don't do interviews not because I have anything to hide, but when you retire, the word has a meaning to me. It's a place in life, a part of the journey. You just don't quit work. You develop an attitude where you can do what you please.
Interpretation
Retirement is not an end, but a continuation of personal choices and freedom.
In this quote, Tom T. Hall emphasizes that retirement is more than just stopping work; it represents a phase in life where one has the freedom to pursue activities that bring joy and fulfillment. He asserts that the essence of retirement lies in adopting a mindset that values personal choice over societal expectations, allowing individuals to engage in what genuinely interests them, whether it's painting, gardening, or other crafts.
In practice
In a speech at a retirement party, you might say this quote to highlight the positive aspects of leaving a job.
The enticing allure of Nashville is that there is always something new coming down the pike. Put this record on and you’ll hear footsteps.
It used to be that youd have a song recorded by a major country artist and if it was a hit, you could buy a car. Now you can buy a dealership.
I felt like a rich vagabond who had passed through the world paving my way with gold fairy dust, then realizing too late that the path disintegrated as soon as I passed over it.
To all those broken or hopeless, I have learned this: Be grateful for every single person who was part of your story. The ones that hurt you. The ones that helped you. The ones that came, and the ones that left. They all taught you. Don't think for a moment that any of it was random. There are no oversights with God. Only perfectly crafted chapters in each unique journey.
I turned away from him and went on my way, up the street and about my business. The past was dead. The future was resignation, fatality, and could only end one way now. The present was numbness, that could feel nothing. Like Novocaine needled into your heart. What was there in all the dimensions of time for me? ("Life Is Weird Sometimes" first chapter of unpublished novel THE LOSER)
And here am I, budding among the ruins with only sorrow to bite on, as if weeping were a seed and I the earth's only furrow.
It will take all your heart, it will take all your breath It will be short, it will not be simple
He has spent his life best who has enjoyed it most. God will take care that we do not enjoy it any more than is good for us.
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