Dolly Parton Quotes

1. I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde.

2. If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one.

3. The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

4. You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!

5. It's a good thing I was born a girl, otherwise I'd be a drag queen.

6. We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

7. I look just like the girls next door... if you happen to live next door to an amusement park.

8. I was the first woman to burn my bra - it took the fire department four days to put it out.

9. I'm old enough and cranky enough now that if someone tried to tell me what to do, I'd tell them where to put it.

10. When I'm inspired, I get excited because I can't wait to see what I'll come up with next.

11. If you talk bad about country music, it's like saying bad things about my momma. Them's fightin' words.

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

13. My weaknesses have always been food and men - in that order.

14. Storms make trees take deeper roots.

15. People make jokes about my bosoms, why don't they look underneath the breasts at the heart? It's obvious I've got big ones and if people want to assume they're not mine, then let them.

16. You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try.

17. I modelled my looks on the town tramp.

18. I hated school. Even to this day, when I see a school bus it's just depressing to me. The poor little kids.

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

20. I think every entertainer's had nights when things go wrong. I mean you can't remember everything all the time, and especially if you're having hard times personally, things going on that you - you know, and then people make it worse. And that makes you feel worse.

21. Children have always responded to me because I have that cartoon-character look.

22. A lot of people have said I'd have probably done better in my career if I hadn't looked so cheap and gaudy. But I dress to be comfortable for me, and you shouldn't be blamed because you want to look pretty.

23. Every day I pray about all I do.

24. I can't do nothing just a little.

25. I can't tell anybody else how to run their life or their business, but I really believe I've got a good bead on myself.

26. I do remember how it was to be poor. I do remember that in my early years, we had to grow and raise all of our food, even our animals. And I remember in my early life, we didn't even have electricity. So it was very, very hard times then.

27. I feel that sin and evil are the negative part of you, and I think it's like a battery: you've got to have the negative and the positive in order to be a complete person.

28. I don't have anything to say about other people's art and their work.

29. I have a big gay and lesbian following and they've been very loyal and kind to me.

30. I have a tendency to be awfully big-hearted and it's very hard for me to say no, even when I need to.

31. I have surrounded myself with very smart people.

32. I just kind of wake up with a new idea and new dreams every day, and I follow that dream, as they say.

33. I love story songs because I've always loved books.

34. I look at myself like a show dog. I've got to keep her clipped and trimmed and in good shape.

35. I know who I am, I know what I can and can't do. I know what I will and won't do. I know what I'm capable of and I don't agree to do things that I don't think I can pull off.

36. I love to flirt, and I've never met a man I didn't like.

37. I think I became more productive through not having children. I never really had the desire to have them. My husband didn't want them either, so it worked out well.

38. I think that I know the value of a dollar.

39. I think that I'm perfect. 

40. I was always a junk food person, still am.

41. I think I've got my business notions and my sense for that sort of thing from my dad. My dad never had a chance to go to school. He couldn't read and write. But he was so smart. He was just one of those people that could just make the most of anything and everything that he had to work with.

42. I write for myself things that I've gone through.

43. I was probably 7 years old when I started playing the guitar and writing some serious songs.

44. I'm a workin' girl.

45. I'm just a simple country girl. 

46. I'm not a politician. And I don't want to be.

47. I'm almost like three people. There's me the, Dolly, the person. There's me, the star. And then there's me, the manager.

48. I'm gonna be making records anyway, even if I had to sell 'em out of the trunk of my car. I'm that kind of musician and singer.

49. I'm not happy all the time, and I wouldn't want to be because that would make me a shallow person. But I do try to find the good in everybody.

50. I'm not trying to be fashionable. Never was!

51. I've been around longer than most of my fans have been alive.

52. I've copyrighted 3,000 songs. 

53. I've been very fortunate. 

54. I've enjoyed all the parts of my career.

55. 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.

56. I've tried different things through the years to get some play on mainstream. I'll try to tailor-make it.

57. If I see something sagging, bagging or dragging I'll get it nipped, tucked or sucked.

58. If I hadn't been a woman, I'd be a drag queen for sure. I like all that flair and I'd be dressing up in them high heels and putting on the big hair. I'd be like Ru Paul.

59. My grandpa was a preacher. 

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

61. My life has been very full.

62. My husband and I had to raise five of my younger brothers and sisters. They lived with us. We sent them to school.

63. Oh, I can spot a phoney a mile away.

64. My songs are like my children - I expect them to support me when I'm old.

65. People get a kick out of my stupidity.

66. Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills.

67. Stop this attitude that older people ain't any good anymore! We're as good as we ever were - if we ever were any good.

68. The only way I'd be caught without makeup is if my radio fell in the bathtub while I was taking a bath and electrocuted me and I was in between makeup at home. I hope my husband would slap a little lipstick on me before he took me to the morgue.

69. You know, I look like a woman but I think like a man. And in this world of business, that has helped me a lot. Because by the time they think that I don't know what's goin' on, I then got the money, and gone.

70. If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.

71. It's hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.

72. Find out who you are and do it on purpose.

73. Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.

74. I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets.

75. I always just thought if you see somebody without a smile, give'em yours!

76. People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know, I’m never there.

77. Smile - it increases your face value.

78. The magic is inside you. there ain't no crystal ball.

79. God is in everything I do and all my work glorifies Him.

80. When someone shows you their true colors, believe them.

81. They think I’m simpleminded because I seem to be happy. Why shouldn’t I be happy? I have everything I ever wanted and more. Maybe I am simpleminded. Maybe that’s the key: simple.

82. 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.

83. I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable.

84. I don't know what the big deal is about old age. Old people who shine from the inside look 10 to 20 years younger.

85. Sometimes my mouth is a little too big and a little too open and sounds too much like a sailor.

86. My daddy has a chain five miles long, on each link a heart for a lover he has lost.

87. I describe my look as a blend of mother goose, cinderella, and the local hooker!

88. I like to buy clothes that are two sizes too small and then take them in a little.

89. I have little feet because nothing grows in the shade.

90. I had to get rich so I could afford to sing like I was poor again.

91. There are plenty of charities for the homeless. Isn't it time somebody helped the homely?

92. I don't know if I'm supporting them, or they're supporting me." (On her ample bosom)

93. (on the topic of her bust size) People always ask me if they're mine. Yes, they are...all bought and paid for.

94. I'm not sixty, I'm "sexty" (commenting on her 2006 birthday milestone.)

95. I hope to die right in the middle of a song and right on the stage doing what I love to do. I hope to be about 120 when that happens. (Source: The Mountain Press)

96. Some of my dreams are so big they would scare you.

97. I'm just a singer/songwriter and entertainer and I miss people and the energy of the crowd. When I play live it's a lovefest with me and my audience. It's how I get my rocks off.

98. I was blessed to have family members who encouraged me to pursue my dreams. Whether it is your parents, or your uncles or your aunts or even the neighbor down the road, it's important that kids have someone who encourages them to chase their rainbow.

99. If there's a heaven, I hope to hell I go!

100. 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.

101. People don't realize that, you know, we have - "we" meaning people in show business have the same problems as everybody else. Money don't change that. Fame don't change that. Sometimes that brings on more problems. You know, it's just a - different kind of problems. As they say, money ain't everything.

102. I wake up with new dreams every day. So the more I can do to channel that into things that I love to create is healthier for me and probably for everybody around me. And the older I get, the earlier I get up. The second my feet hit the floor, I'm awake. I'm like hurry, hurry. I just love life. And I feel like we ain't got but a certain amount of time anyway. I want to make the most of all of it. (Source: Reader's Digest - January 2006)

103. There's a heart beneath the boobs and a brain beneath the wig.

104. (alluding to her famous bust) If I build another park, it will probably be in Silicon Valley.

105. I saw early on that I could make a business out of this (music business) because I wanted money, I wanted to travel, I wanted clothes, I wanted to be loved, I wanted to be staying in fine hotels. It wasn't to get away from what I was because I knew that would always be me. I've never been ashamed of my people. I love my people and I love my home.

106. 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.

107. My music is so mine, it's hard to turn it over to someone else. I have to be really involved in the production. It's like someone else taking care of your kids - if they don't treat them well, you're going to be pissed off. I'm actually co-producing (Backwoods) with my guitar player of 20 years, Kent Wells. We make a good combination… I think we're going to have a real good record.

108. He's a precious man. He's got a lot of bad press lately but I think he's out to try to save the world, not destroy it (Commenting on Cat Stevens' (Yusuf Islam's) deportation from the United States in September 2004 (Source - "The Daily Show" (1996) October 17, 2005).

109. When the new country came out ten to 15 years ago, people my age were almost too old. But it never stopped me. I never stopped writing. I never stopped recording.

110. After Momma gave birth to twelve of us kids, we put her up on a pedestal. It was mostly to keep Daddy away from her.

111. Sure I'm in it for the money, but also because I love music. I picture myself in the future as a happy old lady, chubby, rosy cheeks, telling stories to the little kids. When I sit back in my rocker, I want to have done it all. (Time Magazine, April 18, 1977)

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

113. I'll never harden my heart, but I've toughened the muscles around it.

114. I'm not like a real person. I love being artificial. I think there's a little magic in the fact that I'm so totally real, but look so artificial at the same time.

115. To me, it's about dreaming in the day and in the night. Dreams have always helped me visualize my goals and aspirations. When I was a child, I could see me on stage singing my heart out. I could see what I was wearing and where I was going. I would visit that dream every single day and as I look back, my dreams kept me focused on what I wanted to do and the person I wanted to be.

116. I enjoy the way I look, but it's a joke.

117. I'm like a cartoon! I'll look this way when I'm eighty. I can see it now, people will be rolling me around in a wheelchair and I'll still have my big hair, nails, my high heels and my boobs stuck out!

118. I always love working with children. I never had children of my own. God has his purposes. God didn't let me have children so everybody's children could be mine. That's kind of how I'm looking at it.

119. It's when you treat people like freaks that you become one yourself.

120. I have loved performing since I was big enough to wrestle my little brothers and sisters into sitting long enough for me to sing them my latest musical masterpiece. I just hope ya'll will come out and see this little girl from the hills of Tennessee walk out there on that big ole stage and make her dreams come true, don't make me wrestle you too 'cause I will if I have to!

121. I feel blessed that I still have the little Dolly in my heart, I'm still the same girl that wants to squeeze every little drop out of life that I can.

122. I feel fortunate that I've had a lot of songs recorded by other people, because I take my songwriting very seriously. It's only those people that have followed me over the years and really know my work that know how serious I am about all of it - including the way I look. You can't take my high heels from me, you can't have my long fingernails, you can't take all this hair from me, because it's part of this thing that I've become. I wouldn't want to give any of it up. Do I have to be ugly to be a songwriter? This is the way I am, and it's what I choose to be.

123. Sometimes you see folks who have a negative view of dreamers - people who sit around all day on their hindquarters and do absolutely nothing. These folks aren't dreamers - they are just lazy. To me, dreaming is just part of being alive, inspired, and curious about the world.

124. Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and myself were all in it (Country Music) about the same time. They got a little bit of a head start on me, certainly Loretta, but we were all three good friends and actually ended up doing an album together. But I think I was a little different from them. Loretta had a house full of kids and she wrote those being brought down by men songs. Hers were more about home life and all the women who had children and I totally love and respect her. Tammy could sing any number of things but she was also singing that Stand By Your Man. I was singing songs like Just Because I'm A Woman… my mistakes are no worse than yours just because I'm a woman. I think we all did our little thing. I just filled my spot.

125. I have always been a firm believer in working hard for what is right and for making your own breaks if you want things to change.

126. I never, ever get involved in politics. With politics you are not allowed to be honest. I don't have time to deal with that. I would rather work with kids.

127. I do have big tits. Always had 'em - pushed 'em up, whacked 'em around. Why not make fun of 'em? I've made a fortune with 'em. (Source: as quoted in the book "The Humour of Sex" by Robert Hale)

128. I've never been the big recording star I'd love to be some day. I've had lots of hits off and on through the years but I've never had the success of other artists - one hit after another back-to-back-to-back and big hits, where every song is going to be number one. I'm not greedy or nothing. I just want everything. Is there something wrong with that?

129. I never let a rhinestone go unturned.

130. Having a big gay following, I get hate mail and threats. Some people are blind or ignorant, and you can't be that prejudiced and hateful and go through this world and still be happy.

131. My grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher. It was a sin to even pluck your eyebrows, and they thought it was a sin for me to be there looking like Jezebel.

132. I'm in showbiz. I look at my boobs like they're show horses or show dogs. You've got to keep them groomed.

What do you think of Dolly Parton's quotes?

Feel free to comment and share this blog post if you find it interesting!