There are certain times that you go through in life. Some of us make changes. Some of us never change. Some change in a very small, or miniscule, way, and some of us change in a dramatic way — may be fast, may be slow, may be fgradual. I think that’s just part of the engenderment of what you’re around, what’s around you and how you react to it. From the wind blowing to an in-towner shaking hands with you and looking you in the eye. Or reading a word in the Bible, or listening to a spiritual, or listening to Beethoven’s Fifth. It don’t make any difference. If people knew just how beautiful this life is from an educational standpoint — even if you didn’t finish school. How much there is out there to learn, and not let yourself become stagnant in the ways of the convenience of time. Or get tied up in the lack of confidence in yourself — and we all go through those stages.
But you just can’t remain that way. I mean, inside you got to be somewhat of an arrogant bastard — I don’t think it’s possible just to be sweet and nice. Maybe on the surface. But I think there is a certain amount of arrogance that all creative people possess and you must just stay in trouble by suppressing it all the time.
Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll (page 496)