Dolly Parton Quotes

I try not to go around looking like a hag.

I don't have time to stand around and listen to an 11-minute song.

I have surrounded myself with very smart people.

My philosophy is simple: It's a down-home, common, horse-sense approach to things.

You always want your people to be proud of what you have accomplished.

Home is anywhere I hang my hair

Dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.

I've never had a divorce, but I've seen so many of my friends, my sister, my family go through that stuff, so I try to write for the people that can't write about it. I take on their sorrow, so I'm able to kind of express it, or their joy.

I figure if I keep my health, I have no intention of retiring. I love to work. I want to be like Bob Hope. I want to keep on going out and doing what I love to do. Of course, I'm no Bob Hope, but I mean that feeling that you never are old and have things to offer and can be useful to somebody. I always want to be useful, I have no intentions of retiring unless I should get sick or something should happen to my husband. Other than that I'm going to work until I fall over.

I've never had that much trouble with the paparazzi, but I don't run the same circles that a lot of these people that do get hounded by the paparazzi.

I love to make things happen, I love to see things happen, I love to be a part of things that are happening.

I've always kinda been a little outcast myself, a little oddball, doin' my thing, my own way. And it's been hard for me to, to be accepted, certainly in the early years of my life.

I'm not intimidated by how people perceive me.

I met my husband before I became a star, and he doesn't care about any of it.

I love the accomplishments and the awards that I've received through the years. But I've always worked more for the rewards than the awards. I've always counted my blessings before I've counted my money. I'm glad that new dreams come to me everyday.

[On why she doesn't exercise:] If I tried to jog with these boobs, I'd end up with two black eyes.

[On growing up in a large family with little money:] ... to take a bath ... we just had a pan of water and we'd wash down as far as possible, and we'd wash up as far as possible. Then, when somebody'd clear the room, we'd wash possible.

The world is my stage. I try to be good at it, whatever part I'm playing - even in my daily life or when the spotlight hits me on the stage to perform - I gotta be alive every second in this world. With or without the applause!

I never have changed in my taste, and the things that I love, and the way that I act, and all that. I never wanted to change, I just wanted to be successful, and be able to do more things for more people, and for myself as well.

We get along real well actually [with my husband Karl Tomas Din]. We give each other space and he's not in the business and he doesn't want to be. I'm interested in his world, he's interested in mine, but we have our own things that we do together.

I got kind of scared when I thought they wanted me to do something... I didn't want to be naked on the front of a magazine unless everybody would know it was a joke. I wouldn't want to be naked even then.

If I had to give up performing, it wouldn't bother me too much. But I couldn't live without my writing. I put all my feelings, my very soul, into my writing. I tell the world in my songs things I wouldn't even tell my husband.

My husband calls me 'catfish.' He says I'm all mouth and no brains.

It seems like the more I give the more I get, and that is the way it is supposed to go in life.

I try to see the good in everybody, and I don't care who people are as long as they're themselves, whatever that is.

I'm on a seafood diet - I see food, I eat it.

When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a star. I didn't really know what all that meant. I didn't know.

I'm comfortable in my own skin, no matter how far it's stretched. Ha ha.

The guitar is my favorite and the one, I guess, I'm best at. But I play enough of the different instruments to be able to write with them and to, hopefully, to make myself look impressive on stage.

Any business you go into, you have to think about how much money you are willing to put into it, and how much you are not.

We're phonies if we're not exactly who we are.

They let you dream just to watch them shatter, you're just a step on the boss man's ladder.

Wouldn't it be something if we could have things we love in abudance without their losing that special attraction the want of them held for us.

I don't have to keep a diary. It seems like for the last 40 years my life has been lived in the press, so I can Google any date in my history and find out what I was doing.

If I hadn't been a woman, I'd have been a drag queen

A baby, a real live baby was the craziest thing a fan has sent. Someone left a baby on our front doorstep with a note that they wanted us to raise it. Of course, we contacted the authorities and they took care of the baby.

We're not all perfect. People always say to me: "Oh you seem happy all the time." But I'm not happy all the time. I'm a human being. I'm very sensitive. I hurt like anybody else. But I do try my best to have a good attitude and I set about tryin' to take care of myself knowing I'm not going to be exactly right, so I just try to see what I can do to improve every single day.

When you're 40, you can't ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.

I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else.

I always loved that old song Banks of the Ohio - it was always such a man's song, so I've always wanted to record it.

I've always loved the fans in Scotland and have a little Scottish blood of my own.

Depression runs in my family on both sides, and I have to be wary.

Oh, I can spot a phoney a mile away.

If I could get their attention long enough, I felt they would see beneath the boobs and find the heart, and that they would see beneath the wig and find the brains. I think one big part of whatever appeal I possess is the fact that I look totally one way and that I am totally another. I look artificial, but I'm not.

I'm very short, so I just have to watch my weight because I have a big appetite.

I thank God for my failures. Maybe not at the time but after some reflection. I never feel like a failure just because something I tried has failed.

I stay close to my roots and my family. I never want to forget any part of it. I'm still just a hillbilly at heart, thus a Backwoods Barbie.

I have a good attitude. And I was born with a happy heart. I'm always looking for things to be better.

I'm no natural beauty. If I'm gonna have any looks at all, I'm gonna have to create them.

To me it's a two-way street. They're good to me, and I'm good to them. It's a natural thing for me to love people, and I think people sense it. ... I am secure with the kind of person I am. I don't feel like I'm better than anyone, but I'm just as good as anyone.

People tend to fear what they do not know, and what they fear they dislike.

I'm a showgirl, as you can tell. I'm ever ready.

It doesn't bother me when someone calls me a 'dumb blonde.' I'm neither dumb or blonde.

I still close my eyes and go home - I can always draw from that.

That traveling man was a two time lover, he took my love, then he took my mother.

Wildflowers don't care where they grow.

I learned early on that I could get a lot of attention by singing and writing little songs, so it was like throwing nuts to a monkey... I just couldn't get enough.

I like to think I've been a good example and an inspiration to some people. And some people say that about me, but I'm just going about my work and doing what I do best. I'm a very professional 'Me.'

I'm not really a political-type person, meaning that I don't really make great stands or whatever, but if you ask me a direct question I say it shouldn't matter who you are, whether you're black, white, green, gay, male, female. If you can do a job and do it well you should be paid for it, you should be respected for it, and you have to be responsible. I think sometimes people can go too fare trying to make a point. I think they should just make their point and go on about.

I write anywhere. I'm always banging around on the dashboard. Whatever I'm doing. I can make music out of anything. Whenever a song hits me, I'll pick some sort of melody or rhythm out on it, and kind of enhance the song.