Dolly Parton Quotes
Singer
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one.
I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else.
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.
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.
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
You can be rich in spirit, kindness, love and all those things that you can't put a dollar sign on.
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.
Storms make trees take deeper roots.
I just don't feel like I have to explain myself.
I don't like to give advice. I like to give people information because everyone's life is different, and everyone's journey is different.
It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.
When I'm inspired, I get excited because I can't wait to see what I'll come up with next.
There's nothing like white trash at the White House.
You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try.
When I wake up, I expect things to be good. If they're not, then I try to set about trying to make them as good as I can 'cause I know I'm gonna have to live that day anyway. So why not try to make the most of it if you can? Some days, they pan out a little better than others, but you still gotta always just try.
Find out who you are. And do it on purpose.
I was the first woman to burn my bra - it took the fire department four days to put it out.
It's a good thing I was born a girl, otherwise I'd be a drag queen.
I had nothing growing up, but I always wanted to be 'sexy,' even before I knew what the word was.
If I see something sagging, bagging or dragging I'll get it nipped, tucked or sucked.
I walk tall; I got a tall attitude.
I wanted to write a book that talked about the emotions of children, which is the rainbow. We all have moods. We talk about being blue when we're sad, and being yellow when we're cowards, and when we're mad, we're red.
I have surrounded myself with very smart people.
My weaknesses have always been food and men - in that order.
I've always been fascinated by everything with wings.
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.
You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!
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.
When you're 40, you can't ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.
If you talk bad about country music, it's like saying bad things about my momma. Them's fightin' words.
If people work for me over the years, I expect them to be paid what they're owed, but I don't expect them to be paid more than they earn.
Energy begets energy.
I don't think I'm supposed to boss other people around just because I'm a so-called celebrity or star. I hate that when people act that way. No one deserves it. I've seen it happen. I don't call those people out - they know who they are. Some enjoy that reputation.
I'm no natural beauty. If I'm gonna have any looks at all, I'm gonna have to create them.
I still close my eyes and go home - I can always draw from that.
I was probably 7 years old when I started playing the guitar and writing some serious songs.
I love being busy.
I hated school. Even to this day, when I see a school bus it's just depressing to me. The poor little kids.
Writing's just as natural to me as getting up and cooking breakfast.
Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn't get some of that stuff out.
I don't kiss nobody's butt.
I say, 'Yeah, Taylor Swift.' I think she is a smart, beautiful girl. I think she's making all the right moves. She's got a good head on her shoulders. She's surrounded with wonderful people. Her songs are great. She keeps herself anchored. She knows who she is, and she's living and standing by that.
Being a star just means that you just find your own special place, and that you shine where you are. To me, that's what being a star means.
I'm comfortable in my own skin, no matter how far it's stretched. Ha ha.
I've used my femininity and my sexuality as a weapon and a tool... but that's just natural.
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.
I've done everything every fat person ever has. I've tried every diet.
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.
I'm an energy vampire. I just suck off everybody's energy. But I give it back.
Every single diet I ever fell off of was because of potatoes and gravy of some sort.
I modelled my looks on the town tramp.
My first job was singing on the Cas Walker radio show in Knoxville, Tennessee. I was about 10 years old, and I thought it was big time.
Someone once asked me, 'How long does it take to do your hair.' I said, 'I don't know, I'm never there.'
People get a kick out of my stupidity.
The secret to a long marriage is to stay gone.
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.
First thing I do in the morning, after I have my breakfast and do my spiritual work, is put on my makeup and fix my hair, and I can do my makeup in 15 minutes.
If you like good ol' fashion Southern soul food then, yes, I am a good cook! My specialty is chicken dumplings and poke salad.
Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills.
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.
My mama never wore a pair of pants when I was growing up, and now that's all she wears. It was so funny for me when I first started seeing Mama wear pants. It was like it wasn't Mama. Now I've bought her many a pantsuit because she just lives in them.
I look just like the girls next door... if you happen to live next door to an amusement park.
My fat never made me less money.
We just seem to have lost all our morals and principles and values these days.
God has his plans and his reasons. Sometimes we are supposed to go through things so that we learn lessons.
We're all just a bunch of sinners, but we do the best we can.
When I'm home, I spend Sunday with my husband. If we're not cooking, we travel around in our camper, stop at fast-food restaurants, and picnic. We love that stuff that will harden your arteries in a hurry.
I think country music is popular - has been popular and will always be popular because I think a lot of real people singing about a lot of real stuff about real people. And it's simple enough for people to understand it. And we kind of roll with the punches.
Kitty Wells was the first and only Queen of Country Music, no matter what they call the rest of us. She was a great inspiration to me as well as every other female singer in the country music business. In addition to being a wonderful asset to country music, she was a wonderful woman.
I think there is a little magic in the fact that I'm so totally real but look so artificial at the same time.
Adjusting to the passage of time, I think, is a key to success and to life: just being able to roll with the punches.
'9 to 5 the Musical' is perfect for anyone that's ever wanted to string up their boss, which is almost all of us.
People say I look so happy - and I say, 'That's the Botox.'
You don't need to buy expensive cosmetics; almost anything will do if you know how to apply it.
If I can get my dress on, my weight is under control.
I usually get up at 3 A.M. I don't require a lot of sleep, and if I get tired, I'll take a powernap during the day.
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 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.
I'm working on my life story. I'm not decided if it's going to be a musical or a movie with music in it.
They say somebody's 'street smart.' I feel like, if I got intelligence, it's just a country smart.
God tells us not to judge one another, no matter what anyone's sexual preferences are or if they're black, brown or purple.
I want to go and go, and then drop dead in the middle of something I'm loving to do. And if that doesn't happen, if I wind up sitting in a wheelchair, at least I'll have my high heels on.
I was born with a happy heart, and I try to keep a good attitude. It's not true that I'm happy all the time because nobody is, and we all go through our things.
Everywhere I go, the kids call me 'the book lady.' The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the 'book lady' title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I've done something good with my life and with my success.
I listen to my old records and I think, 'How did I ever get on the radio?'
I'm just a friendly person; that runs in my family.
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 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.
Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston, I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song, and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, 'Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.'
Sometimes if you jump into something too quickly, you can screw up something that might have been good two years down the road.
God and I have a great relationship, but we both see other people.
I'm just a simple country girl.
I think your values are always influenced by your family and your community.
My nails are my rhythm section when I'm writing a song all alone. Some day, I may cut an album, just me and my nails.
I never thought, in my lifetime, that you'd be able to watch movies, read books and listen to music from a phone, but I guess the technology of tomorrow is here today.
My first phone was two tin cans tied together with string, and it worked pretty good.
I have a big gay and lesbian following and they've been very loyal and kind to me.
I think so many people live their whole life in fear and doubt and shame.
Dollywood is a family park, and all families are welcome. We do have a policy about profanity or controversial messages on clothing or signs. It is to protect the individual wearing or carrying them, as well as to keep down fights or problems by those opposed to it at the park.