Elvis Presley is a name almost anyone would recognize—after all, he’s a music icon who rose to fame in the 1950s and will forever be known as “The King of Rock and Roll.” And while his songs and dance moves are what he’s mostly known for, he had plenty of insight to share throughout his life as well. Enjoy reading through the best Elvis Presley quotes!
There are plenty of Elvis sayings and quotes in the hearts of his family, friends and fans. Read a few popular Elvis sayings below. These Elvis quotes were taken mostly from interviews and live performances.
Elvis Presley Quotes
“Where could I go but to the Lord?”
“The army teaches boys to think like men.”
“Do something worth remembering.”
“I never expected to be anybody important.”
“When things go wrong, don’t go with them.”
“I hope I didn’t bore you too much with my life story.”
“I’d just like to be treated like a regular customer.”
“If you let your head get too big, it’ll break your neck.”
“Whatever I will become will be what God has chosen for me.”
“Animals don’t hate, and we’re supposed to be better than them.”
“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t going away.”
“I’ve tried to lead a straight, clean life, not set any kind of a bad example.”
“More than anything else, I want the folks back at home to think right of me.”
“It’s human nature to gripe, but I’m going ahead and doing the best I can.”
“I was an only child, and mother was always right with me all my life.”
“Until we meet again, may God bless you as he has blessed me.”
“People think you’re crazy if you talk about things they don’t understand.”
“I’m not trying to be sexy. It’s just my way of expressing myself when I move around.”
“The Lord can give, and the Lord can take away. I might be herding sheep next year.”
“It’s not how much you have that makes people look up to you, it’s who you are.”
“Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.”
“Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.”
“To judge a man by his weakest link or deed is like judging the power of the ocean by one wave.”
“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave ’em all over everything you do.”
“I learned how important it is to entertain people and give them a reason to come and watch you play.”
“I was training to be an electrician. I suppose I got wired the wrong way round somewhere along the line.”
“When I was a boy, I always saw myself as a hero in comic books and in movies. I grew up believing this dream.”
“The image is one thing and the human being is another. It’s very hard to live up to an image, put it that way.”
“From the time I was a kid, I always knew something was going to happen to me. Didn’t know exactly what.”
“Just because I managed to do a little something, I don’t want anyone back home to think I got the big head.”
“I knew by heart all the dialogue of James Dean’s films; I could watch Rebel Without a Cause a hundred times over.”
“Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me, I can’t help it.”
“I like to sing ballads the way Eddie Fisher does and the way Perry Como does. But the way I’m singing now is what makes the money.”
“Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do ’em all together, I guess.”
“A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It’s my favorite part of the business, live concerts.”
“I’ll never feel comfortable taking a strong drink, and I’ll never feel easy smoking a cigarette. I just don’t think those things are right for me.”
“I ain’t no saint, but I’ve tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God…I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world.”
“The first time that I appeared on stage, it scared me to death. I really didn’t know what all the yelling was about. I didn’t realize that my body was moving. It’s a natural thing to me. So to the manager backstage I said, ‘What’d I do? What’d I do?’ And he said, ‘Whatever it is, go back and do it again.’”
“I’ve never gotten over what they call stagefright. I go through it every show. I’m pretty concerned, I’m pretty much thinking about the show. I never get completely comfortable with it, and I don’t let the people around me get comfortable with it, in that I remind them that it’s a new crowd out there, it’s a new audience, and they haven’t seen us before. So it’s got to be like the first time we go on.”
“When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times…I learned very early in life that: ‘Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain’t got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend – without a song.’ So I keep singing a song. Goodnight. Thank you.”
– From his acceptance speech for the 1970 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation Award.
