Top 625 Quotes & Sayings by Dolly Parton - Page 2

I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area.

When I get down, I don't waller around for long.

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

After momma gave birth to 12 of us kids, we put her up on a pedestal. It was mostly to keep Daddy away from her.

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

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

That little Miley Cyrus... she's like a little Elvis. The kids love her because she's Hannah Montana, but what people don't realize about her is she is such a fantastic singer and songwriter. She writes songs like she's 40 years old!

As a songwriter, you respect and appreciate the writings of other people, and I often get asked, are there songs out there I wish I'd written? Yes. There's many of them!

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

I have tennis shoes with little rhinestones that I slip on if I exercise. But I always wear heels, even around the house. I'm such a short little thing, I can't reach my kitchen cabinets.

I listen to my old records and I think, 'How did I ever get on the radio?'

I used to always sit in church looking out the windows at the boys, wondering if I could make an excuse to go out and, you know, go to the bathroom because all the outdoor toilets. But anyhow, I was only going out to see the boys.

I have had some cosmetic surgery, especially after I lost weight and stuff, and I've had my breasts lifted - but not injected. That would scare me to death, anyway.

I often joke that 100 years from now I hope people are saying, 'Dang, she looks good for her age!'

I think there is a little magic in the fact that I'm so totally real but look so artificial at the same time.

I have suffered most of the things I write about - or my friends have.

God tells us not to judge one another, no matter what anyone's sexual preferences are or if they're black, brown or purple.

My fat never made me less money.

Living in America and, of course, just being women in general, we've got more strength than we think we do.

I have surrounded myself with very smart people.

I really learned to sing in church, I think, really with emotion.

You don't see too many atheists on the deathbed. They all start cramming then.

God has his plans and his reasons. Sometimes we are supposed to go through things so that we learn lessons.

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.

I don't have maids or servants, and my husband and I love waking up early and going to the 24-hour supermarket when there is nobody else there.

I'll bring my grits when I travel, because I get so hungry on the road.

I look like a woman, but I think like a man.

Of course, 'I Will Always Love You' is the biggest song so far in my career. I'm famous for several, but that one has been recorded by more people and made me more money, I think, than all of them. But that song did come from a true and deep place in my heart.

'Jolene' has been very popular all of these years, even overseas.

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

My songs are the door to every dream I've ever had and every success I've ever achieved.

If you like good ol' fashion Southern soul food then, yes, I am a good cook! My specialty is chicken dumplings and poke salad.

Being brought up very religious, I have a fear of people that look to idol gods.

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.

I've used my femininity and my sexuality as a weapon and a tool... but that's just natural.

I've enjoyed all the parts of my career.

I know some of the best Dolly Parton jokes. I made 'em up myself.

It took me years to eat a lot of shellfish. I was probably 20 years old before I had even seen a shrimp cocktail. I like oysters, but fried.

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.

I've... been accused of being involved with every man I'm ever seen with or worked with. Maybe I have, maybe I ain't. I never tell if I have.

I have little bones.

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.

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.

When I started the Imagination Library in my hometown, I never dreamed that one day we would be helping Scottish kids.

Everybody has a purpose.

There's been a lot of talk about Jack White wanting to work with me, and I've always admired him, and of course, he lives in Nashville, too.

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 write for myself things that I've gone through.

I am not gay, but if I were, I would be the first one running out of the closet.

No one is ever successful at everything that they do.

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.

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 can be accused of trying to be commercial sometimes.

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

Funny thing is that the poorer people are, the more generous they seem to be.

Never leave a rhinestone unturned.

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.

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 just don't have time to get old!

My biggest extravagances are also investments. I have several houses in California, a house in Nashville, an office complex, and I bought the old home place in Tennessee. They are different places for me to write, but I can turn right around and sell them.