I never let a rhinestone go unturned

I`m a show-off basically...always have been.

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

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?

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

Storms make trees take deeper roots.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

I wanted to be the first woman to burn her bra, but it would have taken the fire department four days to put it out.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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

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

I don`t mind being it, I just don`t like saying it when asked about her sixtieth birthday.

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.

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.

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

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

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]

Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills.

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.

You`d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!

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

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

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 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.

I modelled my looks on the town tramp.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

There`s a heart beneath the boobs and a brain beneath the wig.

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)

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.

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.

If there`s a heaven, I hope to hell I go!

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.

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.

When I`m inspired, I get excited because I can`t wait to see what I`ll come up with next.

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

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)

If I see something saggin`, baggin` or dragin`, I`m gonna have it nipped, tucked or sucked. (Referring to Plastic Surgery)

"I`m not sixty, I`m `sexty`" commenting on her 2006 birthday milestone.

If you want to see the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain.

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

"I don`t know if I`m supporting them, or they`re supporting me." (On her ample bosom)

There are plenty of charities for the homeless. Isn`t it time somebody helped the homely?

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

If you don`t like the road you`re walking, start paving another one.

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

It takes a lot of money to make a person look this cheap!

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

I`m not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know that I`m not dumb. I also know I`m not blonde.