I started learning my lessons in Abbot Texas, where I was born in 1933. My sister Bobbie and I were raised by our grandparents [...] We never had enough money, and Bobbie and I started working at an early age to help the family get by. That hard work included picking cotton. [...] Picking cotton is hard and painful work, and the most lasting lesson I learned in the fields was that I didn't want to spend my life picking cotton.

Nelson, Willie; Pipkin, Turk (2006). The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart. Gotham. p. 10. ISBN 159240197X.