Petty: "I like to be an optimist, but I like to be a realist, too."

Petty: "It's kind of a lonely work, because you just have to keep your pole in the water. I always had a little routine of going into whatever room I was using at the time to write in and just staying in there till I felt like I got a bite."

Petty: "I'm barely prolific and incredibly lazy."

Petty: "It's hard for me... If I don't have a project going, I don't feel like I'm connected to anything. I don't even think it's that healthy for me. I like to get out of bed and have a purpose."

Petty: "Most things I worry about never happen anyway."

Petty: "Making a record? You've got to have the song, then you create a record. I think it's the same with a live performance. If the material is strong, you're already 90% there. I always tell young people it's all about the music, the songs. Work on the songs, work on the songs, work on the songs."

Petty: "I'm not exactly a guy who makes new friends easily."

Petty: "I developed a problem with authority. Any time that authority was what I interpreted as being unjust, I stood up to it, and that became my personality."

Petty: "I've never had any idea that what I like would resonate with the audience, and I'm pleasantly surprised when it does."

Petty: "The energy of the crowd is insane. Twenty thousand people. It's the biggest jolt of adrenaline. It's very hard to explain. You know the old story about the woman lifting the car off her kid? It's in that realm. You can actually hurt yourself and not know it."

Petty: "As time goes by, you seem to weed out the things that were making your life hard."

Petty: "Music is probably the only real magic I have encountered in my life. There's not some trick involved with it. It's pure and it's real. It moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things."

Petty: "Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I'm concerned, that's success."

Petty: "TV does not care about you or what happens to you. It's downright bad for your health now, and that's not a far-out concept. I think watching the TV news is bad for you. It is bad for your physical health and your mental health."

Petty: "Go after what you really love and find a way to make that work for you, and then you'll be a happy person."

Petty: "An average show is two hours. And that's usually right up to the curfew or the union triple time. I always feel like I could have played a little longer or something, but it's hard for me to pay attention to anything for longer than that."

Petty: "Sometimes, giving up your privacy is a little like going to the dentist and we have let him have access that no one's ever had."

Petty: "I feel sorry for kids these days. They get so much homework. Remember the days when we put a belt around our two books and carried them home? Now they're dragging a suitcase. They have school all day, then homework from six until eleven. There's no time left to be creative."

Petty: "I have turned down a lot of money for things that would have made me feel cheesy."